It’s been another busy winter at the lake and as we open our doors this weekend for season 15, here are some insights into what we’ve been up to.
Drain Down Time!
As soon as the last guests of 2024 had left, I started lifting boards to steadily reduce the lake level. Top priority was the removal of yet more trees that were creating too much shade and dropping an excessive amount of leaf litter. In total we removed 40 which might sound like a lot but trust me there are loads left so it still feels very much like an English estate lake in France. We also used this time to remove more silt from the shallow margins and as a result we’ve been able to thicken up the margins which suffer from erosion as the years go by.
At the end of November we netted the lake and removed a whopping 640kg of bream and catfish. If you’re a fan of our big catfish, don’t panic, they are all still here and as powerful as ever!
Driveway improvements
It’s been 10 years since we renovated the driveways and it was time to spruce them up a bit. When they were first done, we used a whopping 650 tonnes. This time we only needed 60…. Thankfully 🤣
Water quality
Last year we experimented with the use of live bacteria to combat the green algae that has always been a problem for us. Excessive levels of algae can cause wild fluctuations in oxygen levels which is bad for the carp’s health and bad for the fishing. The program was very successful and dramatically reduced the need for additional splash aeration. It was also a much nicer place to be (for us and our guests) as for all but five days, the loudest noise were the birds and an occasional tractor! The days of 24/7 splash aerators were over!
We’ll be using the same product this year but in addition we’ve started to introduce an organic treatment made from barley. The treatment is designed to perform a similar job to the bacteria treatment in that it suppresses the growth of the algae. Believe it or not, algae gets going pretty early if the weather is mild so this will help us get things under control, well before we open.
Last year we attempted to introduce some water milfoil to the lake. Unfortunately this experiment was unsuccessful; it was too late in the season by the time we were able to source some. The problem was that the algae had already begun to dominate and eventually starved the small weed of light and they died. New year, new plan! Now we have a plan for controlling the algae even earlier, we will be introducing an aquatic plant commonly known as hornwort.
It’s a well known oxygenating plant that also emits a substance that has been found to suppress the growth of green algae and cyanobacteria. While some aquatic plants can cause problems for anglers, hornwort does not have any roots and spends its life floating freely in whatever body of water it’s introduced. Rather than just let this new weed float wherever it wants to, we plan to limit its spread with the use of floating booms. These booms are fish safe and will not hamper the fishing in any way. We initially plan to introduce the weed into a few corners of the lake where, hopefully, it will grow and develop and further enhance the quality of the water.
Each year it’s our aim to make Beausoleil just that little bit better. We are very happy with the way the place looks and I’m sure that it will continue to delight, surprise and entertain the many anglers and families that we’ll be meeting this year. If you haven’t yet managed to secure yourself a booking for this year, we still have a couple of weeks available in October so it’s not too late!
Winter Fishing
With such a busy winter, there wasn’t much time left for fishing but I did about 7 nights. In total I banked 14 carp to 54 lbs and after each rod had done a bite, it didn’t go back out.
On the bait front it was the first time I’d fished with the new Nash Citruz. This is a very different bait to the original Citruz and it was no surprise to me that I caught well on it. I used 2 x 12mm baits on the hair with a tiny bag of 2mm Citruz pellets. Most rigs were rowed out and placed with the bushwhacker with plenty of home cooked garlic wheat, hemp and some 7mm house pellet to bulk out the mix. Please don’t be alarmed that I didn’t use the Scopex Squid for my session. It would not have made any difference to my results! I just wanted to test the Citruz while the water was cold.
On the rig front I used a new little bait loop rig that is specifically designed for use with small baits. The lead system was a simple running inline lead using the new Nash Super Flat Pear inlines in 3.5oz.
I really like the way that you can use the tail rubber insert to replace the plastic inserts supplied to create a very light bump and run setup. I also liked the way they fall much slower through the water and land very softly on the silt. I even tried casting these at speed and at range into some softer areas of the lake and found that it was impossible to make them plug.
It all kicked off on day 4 of my session with carp of 35lbs, 43lbs and 30lbs falling to each of my rods in the space of an hour, that was crazy fishing for February!
There will be several new videos hitting the channel over the next few months which will tell you all about the tricks I used to catch our wily carp this winter.
We very much look forward to welcoming old and new friends this year at Beausoleil!
