Happy new year to you all and we hope that you had a great festive period and have started 2025 off well.
Time is passing very quickly here and we cannot believe we are already mid January and only 10 weeks away from the start of our 3rd season at Carp France Fishing. The weather has been a lot lot kinder than last year with not nearly as much rain and for the most part we have been able to crack on with the jobs that needed to be done. During the season we tend to make a list of jobs we need to do and things we would like to do. As is often said, to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. But sometimes other things get in the way, things take longer than expected or the unexpected happens to throw a spanner in the works.
Our main priority each year are to get the lakes looking their best for the new season and making sure that any maintenance in the chalets is done. We have so far sorted most of the fallen trees, apart from the large one at the far end of Kingfisher. Nigel has a new wood chipper which makes life a lot easier and saves us having to have so many bonfires or take the rubbish to the tip. We are slowly working our way round both lakes. Lac Lucie is just about ready with all the snags in the lake having been removed, some trees thinned out on the main bank and strimming done most of the way round the lake. Kingfisher still needs a bit more work and on the dry days we tend to get out and clear what we can.
The fish are being fed regularly still with a mixture of soaked maize and pellets and it will be interesting to see some of the weights this year. You may have spotted on our gallery that we have also acquired 15 new carp for Lac Lucie, taking the total in there up to 80 carp and after the netting of the stock lake there are also now approximately 130 carp in Kingfisher so we have no doubt that the catch reports for this year will be even bigger and better. It will be great to see some of the new fish on the bank.
The main task that needed to be done in the chalets was replacing the flooring in the bathroom in Lac Lucie. As with most things, this was not straightforward and once the lino had been taken up we noticed that the floor boards were sodden and rotten in places so the whole bathroom was taken out. Unlike Kingfisher the joists were fine and intact and the water had not spread into any other rooms so once the boards were replaced, Nigel got the new laminate flooring down and put the bathroom back in, making sure that there were no leaks and the waste was going where it should this time.
In addition to the bathroom, Jo has been making curtains to replace the blinds in Lac Lucie chalet. She comes from a family of crafts people but is not the keenest of seamstresses and has only ever made one pair of curtains before so if you are visiting us this year do not over examine them! Apart from the hems they are ready to go so we just need to get some curtain poles and get them up when we are ready to open the chalets.
As well as the outside jobs there is always the admin and stuff in the house to be done. We have now finished replacing our ensuite and decorating our bedroom, making it ours and a nicer place to be. Bookings have been trickling in and have to be processed and the website has had a refresh so take a look around our other pages whilst you are here. We have updated the Gallery 2024 page so you can see more photos of the fish caught last year. You can also sign up for our new newsletter through the website, which we are aiming to send out on a monthly basis with news and offers. We have now set up WhatsApp for Business so you can contact us directly through that rather than email if you prefer – the number is +33 7 49 28 77 67 or click on the link below.
There are still things we hope to get done before the start of the season but have had a couple of issues that will have to be addressed first. Our washing machine packed up so we have had to replace that and the gazebo got destroyed in a recent storm so we need to build a new one, as it is good to have some shade for the anglers who chose to eat with us. The chalet folders need their annual refresh and we would like to replace the counter in the office. We still want to do some work on the swims on Kingfisher but need to wait for the builder to come and finish the trench work before we can start that. We were hoping to build a cabin on Lac Lucie where the builder took the rock from to widen the dam wall but that might have to wait until next winter.
We are sure that by the time we have finished all that we want to get done it will be well into March and we will be planning the cleaning and opening of the lakes ready for our first guests. We are already looking forward to welcoming some new faces and some returning ones, and the warmer weather!
Our weather station is working well and it is interesting to see the statistics on the website https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IMASSI28. So far in January we have had highs of 13°C and lows of -6.5°C, with wind speeds of up to 29.5km/h and gusts of 42.2km/h. There has been 112mm of rain so far which mainly fell in a week but not as wet as last year and we have not had the snow that the UK have had. The new overflows and stream clearing has managed it all without it coming over the banks so we are happy. Hopefully February and March will also be dry so we can get finished what we need to.
Until the next time bonne journée et à bientôt……