News Letter – Winter 2014/15

Future plans for the fishery

Our aim is to further develop both Lac Serreire and Badgers Holt into predominantly very big carp waters for the experienced big fish angler. We already have fish well over 70lbs in both lakes along with high numbers of fish in the 40-60lb bracket. Both lakes provide naturally very rich environments for the fish to thrive in. But we have a lot of plans that are now underway to optimise the conditions still further to promote the best possible long term sustainable growth rates and health of the carp.

Removal of unwanted species10896279_367967686717098_4718350062772818307_o

In December 2014 we removed a high quantity of unwanted roach, skimmer bream, poison chat and a few small commons from Lac Serreire to reduce the overall biomass and allow more of the lake’s resources to be available to the carp population. We plan to repeat this approximately every three years.

Chalking

In early February, we will be intensively chalking Lac Serreire. This helps the natural process that breaks down silt, optimises water chemistry and also gives a boost to the natural food cycle in the lake. We plan to repeat this annually every winter.

Winter feeding

We are feeding the carp throughout the winter on both lakes except when the water temperature is very low. Before we open for the new season we will start to include boilies in the feeding program to ensure that the carp become very used to the bait that we have available for anglers this year.

New rules for bait in 2015

To support our aim of optimizing the carp’s growth rates and overall health, we have to ensure that we provide the carp with the best possible food supply so we have decided to introduce some new rules regarding bait this year.

  • The use of ‘shelf-live’ boilies that use preservatives will no longer be allowed. From now on we will only allow the use of preservative-free frozen boilies. In our opinion, the best nutritional value baits are usually freezer baits and not shelf-life baits. In addition, there is some concern in the carp world that some preservatives used in the bait industry could impede proper digestion of the bait in the carp’s digestive system. In a few cases, some preservatives used in the bait industry may be harmful to the fish. Finally, good quality ‘food baits’ usually catch significantly more fish during the course of a week. The more of these baits that the carp eat, the more they want and it is often possible to build up a swim during the week to enjoy a really big hit of fish.
  • The following particle baits are allowed; sweetcorn, maize and small amounts of hemp. The maize and hemp must be shop prepared or, in the case of the maize, we have plenty available on site and can prepare it for you. No other particles or nut baits are allowed. This is because many particles, although attractive to carp, do the fish very little good in terms of nutritional benefit. In addition, there is always a risk that unless particles are well prepared, they can easily do the fish a lot of damage.
  • Only our low-oil carp pellets, available on site, will be allowed before 1st May and after 1st November. No other pellets will be allowed during these times of year. We introduced this rule because some pellets, especially the marine pellets that are widely used, can have very high oil contents. When water temperatures are colder in early spring and late autumn, the carp’s ability to digest these oily pellets rapidly reduces. This can lead to health problems and it can also significantly reduce the carp’s appetite for further feeding.
  • The use of maggots will only be allowed before 1st May and after 1st November. This is because the carp can become totally preoccupied on maggots and in the warmer months, they provide a non-balanced diet leading to health problems and can make the fishing extremely difficult for anglers fishing anything other than maggots.

For advice on baits for your trip to Lac Serreire or Badgers Holt, please give us a call or send us an email and we’ll be happy to help. We have various bait packages available on site which are guaranteed to be attractive to the carp, are cost effective and avoid the need for the angler to transport frozen bait.

For more information  about baits available on site  Click Here

Rigs for 2015

In 2015, we will no longer allow any form of leaders to be used. We also require that anglers use at least 60cm of tubing above their lead setups.

The reason for this is that unfortunately a high number of fish were lost in 2014 due to mainline breakage. This resulted in a number of fish being found tethered (the fish were all released alive because we found them quickly). In some cases leaders had been set up unsafely. By eliminating leaders, we hope to reduce this problem.

The reason for the need for tubing is to protect the carp from damage from the mainline during playing the fish.

We recommend line of 18lb (0.4mm) breaking strain. As an absolute minimum, line should be at least 15lb (0.35mm) breaking strain. Since most anglers use bait boats and don’t cast, the thicker and stronger lines have no disadvantages, but will definitely result in less fish being lost.

We also no longer allow helicopter rigs for the same reasons as above and, although we do allow in-line leads, they must only be fished ‘drop-off’ style in the interest of safety.

For a very efficient setup that will catch loads of fish in both lakes, we recommend the use of the excellent MCF ‘dumper’ lead-clips or Nash ‘Weed Safety Bolt Clips’ which are both available on-site. Both these clips eject the lead easily if a fish is snagged, but reliably retain the lead at all other times. Conventional lead-clips must be wetted prior to the tail rubber being pushed on and the tail rubber must be pushed on very lightly.

Not only will the carp benefit from these changes, but less fish will be lost which is better for everyone.

Rebuilding of swims

Outflow Swim

The old narrow pontoon has been replaced with a new wide platform providing a lot more room than before.10295216_363889927124874_619921899844224037_o

Tim & Mary’s Swim

All the rocks in the water in front of the swim have been removed and the water made deeper to make netting fish easier and safer. We have also replaced the boards and added scaffold poles at the front of the swim. The large trees on both sides of the swim have been trimmed back to make playing fish a lot easier.

The Island Swim10869693_363889123791621_710261732942762356_o

The rocks have been removed from the water in the area that fish are netted and the bivvy area has been approximately doubled in size.

The Woods Swim

We are currently re-building the platform. The narrow walkway out to the main boards is being replaced with new full width boards to make it much easier for two anglers to double up in this swim.

Badgers Holt

The main two swims have new boards at the1799963_366439440203256_3555177220151416586_o front with scaffold retaining poles replacing the old wooden posts. New gravel has been added to level the areas where rods are placed. The tree that was heavily leaning over the water just past the second swim has been removed to make fishing up to the shallows much easier.

Facilities

The Lac Serreire lodges and the Badgers Holt cabin are being totally refurbished ready for our 2015 season.

Our WiFi system has been improved to ensure coverage in nearly all the Lac Serreire swims and the whole area around the lodges.

A small tackle and bait shop will be opened on site in April this year selling a selection of commonly requested rig components such as leads, line, hooks, lead clips, back-leads, etc. We will also have a range of frozen boilies, pup-ups, carp pellets, etc. The boilies will be the same as we are feeding during the spring. Bait packages will be available this year to offer anglers an economic bait solution that they can have 100% confidence in.

As always, we will be on hand during the season to help with advice on rigs, bait choices, etc whenever required.

As a reminder, on Saturdays, the arrival time is 1pm and not earlier. We really need the time before 1pm for cleaning, grass cutting and maintenance. Thanks for your understanding.

Please click here to take a look at our full list of rules for the fishery for 2015 Fishery Rules

We look forward to seeing everyone who is booked during the year ahead.

Simon & Corinna