The work ramps up!

Why does the winter always seem to go so fast!

When we approach autumn I start to look forward to getting all the things done that I have wanted to do all summer. Although of course I can do general maintenance throughout the season, I have never been too keen on crashing around and making a load of noise unless I really have to. I don't want to disturb you or the fish.

Then the time comes to say goodbye to the last group of the year, diggers are booked, work parties planned, gravel ordered and deliveries arriving. I always stand there as that last group drives out the gate thinking 4 months ahead of me, I'll get loads done, it will all run smoothly, no need to panic, plenty of time!

As I sit here now tapping away on the 28th of January I feel further away then I did when that last group left the gate, how?!

Well that old saying "you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette" couldn't be truer than in fishery management. Plus, nature likes to break a few eggs for you that you hadn't planned on! If I am honest its the same every year, and I have been doing this for long enough now to know that it will all be perfect by the time our first anglers arrive, sometimes though it is hard to believe!

Moving on to the year ahead, and the fishing at Lac Solace! Like every year on this amazing little lake, I am excited.

At last we had a real cold spell this winter, something we have desperately needed for years. Granted it was only a week or so, but, it will have done some damage to the weed, bugs and parasites that have undoubtedly had an easy ride the last 5 or 6 years.

On top of the day to day part of fishery management, liming, clearing the wind tunnels, tidying facilities, improving swims, feeding and so on, there is also a lot of 'behind the scenes' stuff that goes on.

This winter it has been developing the carp farm. I will go into more depth about this later in the

year, because I know how many of you are interested in this side of things. But very briefly. As those that follow the lake will already know, the genetics and the x strains the stock creates has already produced some very special fish with incredible growth. Not just in simple growth rates, but in shape, looks and overall health. Because of this several fisheries had asked for fish to be available for sale. Now this is something I have a huge passion in. The science behind it all, the anticipation and also the unpredictability of it all have kept me hooked for years, and up until this point I had only been growing and developing a strain of carp for my own lakes and a few close friends. But this year I took the plunge and went at it properly. With the help of a few close friends and experts in different fields from Koi to electrics I have set up a system that ensures that I can really make the most of the fry I produce, allowing them to reach their full potential and be ready to go into my lakes and many others in a year or so's time. It is exciting, it is addictive, it is stressful, it is costly and it is a never ending learning curve, but that's what we love, right?

I have used a few techniques from the masters of growing carp, the Japanese, and combined those with traditional king carp growing techniques, and already after one summer we can see that things are well on track.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/cc739e_80f2f24512334545ba89825d92778fb5/360p/mp4/file.mp4

I will give more detail on all this in the summer and answer a few questions. So stay tuned!

Back to the main lake and the fishing I expect.

Last year was another great year. The fishing at Lac Solace can be seriously challenging. They are incredible masters of their environments. They are very very aware of what we are doing. As a result of that they take some catching! Don't get me wrong, they are of course catchable, but it takes some skill and confidence in your approach.

Because of the tricky reputation of the lake it means that the caliber of the anglers that visit us is high and we are starting to see some of the rarer fish making the odd appearance which gave me a really good grasp of the stock of the lake and the weights. During the last 3 months of last season the average weight caught was over 45lbs with many of the low 50's coming out at 56/57lbs. This of course is exciting because if that growth continues then we should be looking at an even higher average weight

and 3 or 4 of those 50's joining the long common at over 60lbs, not bad for a 3 acre lake.

Talking about the Long Common. We had to wait until the very last week of the season to see her hit the bank, as Scott bagged her in early November at a new lake record of 62.04oz. I was chuffed to get the call to come give him and hand and do the pics, Scott had done loads to help me at the lake during his trip and as a regular at both our lakes has caught a hat full of special ones, especially from Lac Solace. But of course, the Long Common was the dream, literally for him, as only a week before he pulled through the gates he had a dream about landing her. Well done mate. Now to conquer Lac Du Coron next Spring.

Again this year I will not be adding any new stock. The lake simply doesn't need it. It is a delicate balancing act with so many big carp and I don't want to do anything to upset what is clearly working at the moment. Of course there is plenty of other work and little upgrades going on. Decorating the cabin, improving swims by adding landing steps to Wallaces, opening up Old Jetty and moving Mac's slightly to give that swims a new lease of life.

As things develop and keep moving forward I will try and get some proper updates and pics done.

I also have a few more tip videos to do that have been asked for. As a few of you guys know, I don't always agree with the typical stuff being rammed down anglers throat every day, so if you would like my take on a topic (don't get me in trouble!) or would like me to answer a question in a bit more depth, then fire away in the comments on this post or on our social media

We also have a couple of weeks left for the coming season which I have listed below. If you would like to grab one of the available weeks then drop me a WhattsApp on +33787705222.

March 21nd - 28th

April 4th - April 11th

May 2nd - May 9th

June 13th - June 20th

July 4th - July 11th

August 29th - September 5th

October 10th - October 17th

October 24th - October 31st

I hope everyone is looking forward to the new season, speak soon.

Nic #solacevibe