A DREAM COME TRUE? – LIFE AS A BAILIFF, PT 1

Like many British carp anglers, the thought of one day living and working in France as an Owner or Bailiff on a carp fishery has never been far from the forefront of my future thoughts and aspirations.

Four years ago, whilst on a fishing trip to France, I met Martin, one of the owners of Lillypool. He was on holiday and had Lillypool booked for himself, but he was kind enough to let my group fish the lake at very short notice after we had been badly let down by another lake we had booked.

After a really good weeks fishing and more beer than I can remember, we exchanged email addresses and telephone numbers. We would definitely keep in touch once back in the UK after having had such a good laugh all week.

Lillypool

Fast forward three years and after numerous more holidays and trips to help on work parties and a few boozy nights out in the UK, Martin and I had become really good friends. Martin then tells me about a second lake he is thinking about opening as his second carp fishery and he’s looking for a partner to share the project. After a quick trip out to see the lake and plenty of discussions on costs, my house is up for sale. There is enough equity for a share in Martin’s new project. This could be it – the dream was getting closer!

Another year passes, two sales have fallen through and the economy in the UK is dreadful. Selling my house is going to be far from easy. The dream is fading somewhat, but I know that nobody else has bought into the share of the second lake. Maybe there are other ways and I’m still in with a chance?

Martin and Richard’s new project

…and again

Only a few weeks pass since the last house sale chain breaks, it’s early April 2013. I receive a call asking how my meeting with the bank had gone… In principle, I could re-mortgage to release funds. ‘Great news’, was the reaction. ‘There have been some further developments. The current Lillypool bailiff is going back to the UK in six weeks time and I was wondering if you are interested in a job’. After nearly soiling myself, I said that of course I was interested.

The next 4 weeks are somewhat hectic. If I can sort all my things in the UK, I’m moving to France!! Needless to say, I wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip. The house, money, job and all, sorted! This is it – I’m moving to France on the 4th of June. The time comes and I can’t wait for the challenges that lie ahead.

Six months on, many a friend made and many a trial navigated, I have settled in nicely and am very happy here in France. The dream has most definitely become a reality. The reality though, is very far from what I had dreamt! The last six months have been a massive learning curve and far more demanding (both physically and mentally) than I could ever have imagined.

Richard Owen

Glehias to Have New Lake Facilities on Floating Island

Glehias is getting an update. The plans have been drawn, the timber delivered and the hammers and saws poised to begin work on the Floating Island Cabin in readiness of the 2014 Season.

The bespoke hexagonal timber Cabin will float on the tranquil waters of our coarse and stock lake - Lake William, and is set adjacent to our specimen lake - Lake Lauren. The Cabin is to house the new on-site facilities - toilet, kitchenette/diner with seating that can convert to a sleeping area for two anglers (or four really close buddies, lol!)

Constructed in natural materials and accessed via a wooden pontoon bridge from Lagoon Walk, the Cabin will look right at home tucked-in amongst the Reeds of Stump Lagoon. The platform will be a generous 6 meters across, giving plenty of internal space for all the facilities and a comfortable decked walkway overlooking the lake and surrounding countryside.

Map of the Lake

We have been very busy working on the general maintenance of Lake William recently, clearing banks and walkways etc. in preparation of this project, and have rebuilt and enlarged the Island providing a great feature to fish to. A beautifully established lake, Lake William can be fished in seclusion to its sister lake, Lake Lauren.

The new Floating Cabin will come as part of the 2014 package, included with the two lakes and the Farmhouse. This will enable us to cater for larger parties which could include up to 6 people who would prefer not to sleep in a bivvy.  We are very excited about this ambitious new project and will be posting regular up-dates throughout the build. Watch this space! :)

Tracy & Lee
For more information on Glehias follow the link - French Carp Fishing

The Professional Carp Catchers

Watch how professional carp catchers go about their business. Team Bigot netted Oakview last week, here's your chance to see how they went about it and have a look at the stock the lake contains...

For more information on Oakview follow the link - Carp Fishing in France with Accommodation

Lake William Island is Completed

Continuing the hard work from last weekend, the island is now complete at Glehias!

Following on from the blog post earlier this week entitled 'Winter Season Chores Begin at Glehias', the island is finally finished. It measures around 25 feet by 9 feet and stands in about 3 feet of water, it has 2 bays on the front edge and each of these has a gully dug down to 4 feet deep in front of them.

Piling on more reeds to build the height.

The fish seem to approve, I hadn't even finished piling clay and reeds up on it and curious Carp were cruising around to inspect my work, I can tell this is going to be an absolute fish haven! The water level is down by 14 inches at the moment and will look even better after the lake refills.

The new Island is immediately visible from the top of Blackberry Hill.

For more information on Glehias follow the link - French Carp Fishing

Water Temperatures at Notaires

I have seen from the forums that there is a great deal of interest in the environmental conditions at the various carp lakes.

Raspberry Pi and circuit board

I am pleased to announce that Notaires Lakes now has live online monitoring which can be seen here. The system is based around the famous Raspberry Pi “computer on a credit card”. We have sensors for air and water temperature, air pressure and humidity.

One sensor is in the swimming pool (for interest, although it’s also providing a reference point) and two are in the lake margin under the willows; one just under the surface and the other about a foot deep. With the sensors shaded by the willows they should be unaffected by direct sunlight and are in the current of water flowing out of the lake spillway.

Water Temperatures

Even with the only two days of “in water” data, the trends are fascinating. The variation in temperature between day and night is 3 degrees. The other particularly useful sensor is the atmospheric pressure sensor, or barometer. Guests can check the current trend, rising or falling each day, and adjust tactics accordingly.

One guest recently emailed me to ask what the weather was doing that day. Well, now you can check online for yourself in an instant!

Chris and Steph Dagg, Owners at Notaires
For more information on the lake follow the link - Fishing Holidays

Winter Season Chores Begin at Glehias

With the kids all back at school, the summer season comes to a close. There is a crispness to the morning air and the nights are already beginning to draw in. It’s definitely time to start on the end of season chores at Glehias.

Sam proudly shows off his big muscles as the tyre mound starts to grow on the bank!

The Lakes are always at their lowest levels at this time of year, dropping around 14” over the summer, so first on the list (the very long list!) of things to do is the reinstallation of ‘Goose Island’ on Lake William. The original island was constructed of banked earth and reeds against a wall of supporting struts, but over time the mounded earth has mostly eroded away along with the planting.

The first task was to get the tyres up to Lake William; most of the family were roped in for this!

Having tried a couple of times to re-mound the island, we’ve gone for a different strategy this time using a mix of old tractor and car tyres as a foundation to hold everything together. With around 35 tyres in total, we are more than hopeful that this new tack will be successful.

Even got Tracy to swap the chef’s hat for a pair of waders to speed things up a bit!

Already over half way there, with about two thirds the marked area stacked and planted with reeds, iris’s and even a tree; the water levels have already begun to rise - almost an inch and a half over the weekend. We’re looking to get the rest done by next weekend. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain too much in between!

Saturday evening and we have 23 of the 35 tyres in place ready for planting.

For more articles on Carp Lake Management such as this click here
For more information on Glehias follow the link - French Carp Fishing

Meet the Bailiff

Meet Richard, the new bailiff at Lillypool. We ask him how he got into the sport and what improvements he's been busy with down at the lake...

 Lillypool is a beautiful 4 acre lake with an impressive head of fast growing Michel Bigot stocked carp up to a substantial 51lb. The lake is suitable for 4 to 5 anglers each having plenty of open water and fish holding features to cast to.

 

For more information on Lillypool follow the link - French Carp Fishing

Meet the Parents

We have been taking a good look at some of the recent 40′s that have been gracing the banks at Oakview this year. We have managed to identify the 40lb carp caught by Billy Berridge in late May as being the same one caught by Gary Hewes in July of 2012 at 29lb 1oz.  A gain of 11lb in 10 months – amazing!

40lb – May ’13

29lb 10oz – July ’12

During this study, our attention has turned to the stock pond.  Regulars at Oakview will know that we religiously feed the stock fish every day when weather conditions are right.

We have the history of one of these fish as it’s so easy to recognise.  The first photo shows the baby during a routine netting of the main lake in 2009 – we wanted to keep this beauty, so back it went.  The second photo shows the same fish being transferred to the stock pond during our November 2010 netting.  The third photo shows the same fish after having been ‘chipped’ and returned to the stock pond in May 2011 – weighing in at 6lb 3oz.

2009

2010

2011

We are hoping that the weather conditions this autumn will be favourable for a netting of both the main lake and stock pond and, if this carp (and a few of his / her stunning brothers, sisters and cousins) have grown up enough, they are going to join their parents in the big-boys lake!

For more information on Oakview follow the link - Fishing in France with Accommodation