January 2002 - Additional stocking at Roseau by Gareth Watkins
All of us that run carp fisheries here in France are on the look out for carp to buy in the winter to supplement existing stocks. This year we have been particularly lucky as there have been a number of big fish on the market from the major players in the fish farming and dealing business in France.
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I became aware of a group of fish that would be available during the month of December, that had been netted from a very good lake in the eastern side of the country. Contacting the fish farmer a deal was struck with myself and the owner of the Roseau fishery, Christophe, to jointly purchase 1200kg of these carp, which were reputed to not only be of a very good average size, but very nice looking fish too.
The fish farmer rang us in early December to say he would deliver our fish on the 12th of the month, two days after my return from the Sandown Carp Society Conference. Then disaster struck in the form of a cold snap that froze virtually every lake in France for the best part of a month. From December 10th to January 15th the lake remained desperately frozen. |
The weather gradually improved and despite a thin layer of ice on our waters on the 15th of January we got a phone call from the fish farmer saying that he could deliver our fish. I drove the 40 or so miles up to the Roseau, where it had been arranged that we meet to stock the 700 kilos of carp into Christophe's Roseau fishery, before then moving to my own "Etangs de la Croix Blanche" lakes to stock the remainder. Right on queue the heavens opened as the truck with the fish on board pulled into the carp park at the Roseau... .we all knew we were in for a real soaking. Perfect weather if you were a fish, I suppose! So it was that Christophe and a few of his friends loaded the fish into bins on trailers towed by 4x4 Quad bikes, to take them around to his stock pond. Access was not possible for the truck.
Like myself Christophe was first putting the fish into a stock pond in order to avoid any contamination with his existing stocks and so that we are able to feed the fish more easily in a smaller area. During the summer they will then be transferred to the main fishing lakes... once we are satisfied that there is no risk of disease spreading to our carp. |
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We were very pleased indeed with the average size of the carp we received. The average size was mid-twenties and there were an number of fish over the 30 pound mark... the best two fish at the Roseau going 17kg each (37lb). The other pleasing thing was the 2 or 3 very nice commons that Christophe stocked. The two biggest must have been into the 30's. Within an hour, and without the rain relenting, we had transferred all the fish into his lake. There was a great mixture of mirrors, with fish from near leather to heavily scaled and linear fish, plus the commons already mentioned. I think the anglers fortunate enough to capture these fish will be more than pleased!
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Once the stocking had been completed at the Roseau it was my turn to get my share of the spoils so we drove down to the Croix Blanche to repeat the stocking process. Christophe accompanied me with his wife Aline. I got a very similar spread of weights and varieties as Christophe. Again the best fish went to mid-thirties, with the average if anything marginally higher than at the Roseau. All in all we were well pleased with our fish.
As per last year my carp will be held in the stock pond and fed, until mid-summer 2002. From July onwards we shall fish the stock pond and transfer the fish to the Croix Blanche and Tortue lakes. |
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