I spent a pleasant hour so this evening sitting on the dam and watching the carp thrashing around in the weed beds over much of the lake. They have been at it since the early hours of this morning and with the prospect of warm sunny weather for the next few days we confidently expect this round of spawning to be completed without interruption. When we decided to close for May, or for part of May this year, it was with the objective of allowing the carp to spawn without the added pressure of anglers on the lake and allowing us the freedom to spend some time weed clearing with our impressive Neptune weed rake. Once spawning has finished we will also feed the lake heavily with the 14mm Coppens pellet that we bought for this reason which should allow the carp to recover and begin putting weight back on without being fished for. Thankfully, mother nature has been cooperative for once and the end of the cold wet spell of weather has coincided nicely with our planned shutdown.
The almost biblical levels of rain, that have been a factor for much of this year, have caused us all manner of problems, not least of the flooding of a few weeks ago. It is good to feel the warmth of the sun on your back after so much wet weather and the wildlife seem to be taking the same view as all of a sudden bee’s are out in force, butterfly’s are around in good numbers and even the early damsel fly’s are beginning to hatch. There is a consequence of having the rivers and streams flood at this time of year and that is the loss of so many kingfishers. When the water rose these lovely little birds will have been sitting on eggs or, in many cases, trying to rear the first brood of young, when the burrows will have been filled with torrents of brown water. It is a tragedy that we experienced a few years ago and it has taken a long time for kingfisher numbers to return to normal numbers at Le Moulin du Mee. When I walk the lake I should be hearing the cheep of flying kingfishers and seeing that flash of blue all around the lakes but sadly it is noticeable only by its absence. Another loss is the herons and egrets that we should be seeing all around the lake’s margins at this time of year and their absence is, one again, very noticeable. We do have one rather spooky heron hanging around Poppy’s lake on most days and that is it !! Very sad.
On a more upbeat note we are hearing the call of many golden orioles around the lakes and the nightingales are also here in good numbers. It is rather lovely to sit on the dam as darkness sets upon the lake and listen to the nightingales singing overhead. I have taken to setting my trail camera up to see what is around and last night I had a visit from one of our many pine martens. Such a magnificent creature that some of our anglers have been blessed with a visit from over the years. The only one that I have seen was caught in a coypu trap and really gave us a telling off as we went to release it. They manage to keep themselves well hidden and to actually see one of a rare treat indeed.
I realise that I have failed to summarise last weeks fishing so here goes.
We had three of our regulars take the main lake for the week and try as the would the conditions and the contrary carp gave them a right beating ! All the lads caught and amongst the fish were a couple of nice 50’s and a couple of good 40’s plus a handful of other fish but the fishing was tough, very tough indeed. The lake gave you the impression that it was holding it’s breath, waiting for some change to take place. Few fish were seen at all and bubbling was almost non existent plus the weather was wet and cold. The lads were great, smiling and keeping a positive view on things despite all being against them, something I was very grateful for. Well done boys!
I will be posting regular updates as spawning continues and then on the work carried out over the close down period. Hopefully the rain hold off for a while and the land can dry off sufficiently for us to get the truck round without tearing everything up. Lots to do so I will ensure my management finger is busy in the coming days..lol
Le Moulin du Mée Weblog (www.carpdreams.com) 