Date: March 2010

Details: New pool at Notaire’s

We are very excited that we have started building our new pool at Notaire’s. We chose a site that was near to the lake with great views. That was the easy bit. The next phase was hard work. The cement lorry delivering the hydrofuge concrete for the base promptly got stuck on the lawn. So out came my trusty old tractor and we started transferring the 6 cubic metres 0.25 cube at a time. This meant that the concrete had to be spread the old fashioned way - by rake and shovel and after you have spread 12 tonnes of the stuff you really know it.

The block work is going up now and is expected to be complete by the end of the week (weather permitting). As you can see in the photographs the pool will overlook the lake. Now we have a swimming pool swim!

New pool	The concrete arrives	Transfer by bennette basculante
In it goes	Only another 11 tonnes to go	The swimming pool swim

Date: February 2010

Details: And now for something completely different.... carp & llamas

When word got round that we had llamas as well as carp the french media became much more interested and the TV cameras came round. France 3 did a very nice program which you can see on the Angling Lines blog at http://www.anglinglines.com/blog/and-now-for-something-completely-different/

Notaires and llamas on TV

Date: January 2010

Details: Winter Carping (Carp d'Hiver)

It’s about six weeks since the last stocking at Notaires lakes and the carp have been left to settle in. This week the ice cleared, and while the air temperature was only 2-3 degrees when the sun was out, conditions were quite comfortable. The conditions here have been oscillating between deep snow and quite mild conditions.

Time to take a break from the painting and decorating at the gite and check out what cold-weather carping was like at the lake. I knew that the fish could be active since our neighbour David fished it last year while half the lake was still icebound. The fishing was steady and he caught silver fish on the pole as well as a carp on the rod.

As I walked along the dam, there were small fish movements. That was a good sign and and I lobbed a few carp pellets in around the margins of the deeper water to attract a bit of attention.

I assembled a very basic collection of three rods, two on the pod and one on a bank stick. The low temperatures made the bite alarms sound very mournful - I hoped that wasn’t an omen. The rigs were simple - medium hair, knotless knot and soft length to a safety rig. As you don’t need mega casts on Notaires, I like to use quite light weights. The rods were baited up with a Quest Baits boilie and matching popup, set within a small PVA bag of pellets and quartered boilie. The Rahja spice went diagonally to the dam wall, Fruity Trifle to the corner and Special Crab to the far wall. There wasn’t any sudden boiling and shark like wakes to the bait, so I sat back with my book.

The afternoon passed quietly. Steph and the children took a nice Dutch family round on a llama trek, the cats hunted in the fields and one managed to fall in the lake.

Then the still sad bite alarm sounded (Rahja spice). No messing around, just a nice confident take. I tightened up and set the hook. The carp wasn’t too fussed where he went, as long as it wasn’t towards the net - up lake, down lake, anywhere but the bank. It wasn’t a reel-smoking battle but the fish was not to be panicked and took his time before his rendezvous with the net. He was 26lbs in the sling, so we’ll call it 25. After a quick photo and some antiseptic, it was back in the lake and he slid off into the dark, still unfazed by the experience.

Now, a tough, hard-case carper would have carried on, but I had a nice warm house beckoning just yards away from the lake. The thought of a cosy fire and a cup of tea won so I packed up for the day. Wouldn’t you if you had a lake right next to your house? – well, remember you can for a week or two at Notaire’s!

Netting a carp for David new year 08	Feeding the fish on new years day	Settling down to fish
Trekking past the lake earlier in the year	On the bank	25lbs

Date: December 2009

Details: Birthday Stockings

Birthday Stockings

Getting new socks for your birthday is not unusual, but this year I got birthday stocks instead! The similarities with birthdays continue; it’s hard to wait and see what you get when you unwrap your prezzies. In this case I watched as one and a half tonnes of beautiful mirrors, partials and fully scaled silvers emerged from the tanks of the fish delivery lorry. Carp, that is!

We ordered the fish through our usual supplier, Pisiculture Couturier in Indre. They are quite near so this minimises fish stress and damage and also maintains biosecurity. In addition they have always supplied us with fine, good looking fish that have a great track record with our anglers for fighting above their weight. These fish are Royale Hybrids that were heat treated after fertilisation to disrupt the chromosomes, consequently these guys and girls don’t breed. This has several advantages to the angler; the fish put on more weight, less down time is spent on courtship rituals and there are no wild weight swings with females full of spawn one week and spent the next. What you catch is a fair representation, no if’s and but’s.

We have built up our stocks in stages over the past three years as we established what each lake can support and this latest delivery represents the culmination of our stocking plans. The Notaire’s stock pond now holds our ‘smaller’ fish of 15 – 20 lbs and a few larger fish to 25lbs, plus a couple of catfish to keep the crayfish down. The main lake at Notaire’s is now stocked with 70+ hard fighting carp, ranging from the smallest at 15 lbs up to the mid-30s. We also have a sizeable catfish and a small sturgeon to add a little spice. The children were fascinated by the sturgeon with his shark-like fins and ‘alien’ scales. The remainder of the fish were destined for our nearby drive and survive lake (Alder).

Adding 170 fish was easy on the spreadsheet, but translate that to a hard-fighting fish, cross at being cooped up in a tank and multiply by 170 and our arms and backs were aching. We all took a well earned coffee break before taking the final group to the Alder lake.

Did I get any other birthday prezzies? Yes of course, my wife bought me a book: How to build animal housing. Talk about dropping hints!

Good to see that he is using proper lifting technique!	Sturgeon
Only just fitting in the carrier 35lb)	The rain was great for the fish, not so good for the camera	Fully scaled in the mix

Date: November 2009

Details: A star is born!

As anybody who has visited Notaire’s recently knows, we have been waiting ‘expectantly’ for the arrival of our next baby llama (which is called a cria). Due to the vagaries of llama reproduction we didn’t know exactly when the cria was due, we knew the earliest and latest dates that were likely but this could stretch over several months. Staring at the llama’s belly didn’t really help as this inflates during the course of the day as the llama fills up on grass, and nor did circling round to check the llama’s derriere as this tended to make the llama nervous (ancestoral memories of sailors perhaps? [ see Jim Kelly’s article on Notaires for more])

This morning as we were walking back down the long farm track after putting our youngest on the school bus, I saw a small grey shape following Windermere. Pointing this out to Steph I was suddenly left in a cloud of dust as she tore down the track to check it out. Sure enough the small shape was a baby cria, already up and about and quite steady on her legs. It looks like Windermere hadn’t been reading the same books as we had because they all say that crias are born in the warmth of the day since mother llama can’t lick a new born baby dry. Steph checked that all was well with mother and baby and just put a cria coat on to keep her warm.

In some of the pictures the llamas are staring at the Percherons in the next field. These gentle giants, who were bred as French war horses, have lined up to watch our turkeys who have snuck through the hedge!

Our next cria is due in summer 2010, will you be there?

Windy and her new baby	Meet the gang	Cria fashion
Watching the Percherons	Percherons watching the Turkies	Autumn at Notaires

Date: October 2009

Details: Prayers for pets

Two of our animals went to church this morning.
There was a special animal blessing ceremony to celebrate St Francis’s day at Nouzerines. We set off with Seamus and Brendan the alpacas, and also Archer the guinea-pig in a wastepaper basket. But we were a bit late and the alpacas weren’t in a mood to be hurried, so we only got as far as the gate before turning back. We put the boys away, selected a baby bunny to go in another bin, and set off again in the car.

We’re glad we made the effort. It was a lovely service. There were lots of dogs, a good selection of goats, including the smallest one I’ve ever seen, a handful of rabbits, one guinea pig (ours) and four horses. They were all very well behaved – no one ate anyone else although a dog helped himself to a potato from the Harvest Festial display – so the whole thing was a great success. Of course, everyone wanted to know where our llamas where, so we had to explain what had happened about a dozen times.

Now what is the connection to carp you may ask? Well if you look closely on the Alter you may be able to make out a goldfish in his bowl - so a representative of the cypranid community took the blessing for the carp!

Date: September 2009

Details: Final stock plans at Notaires

The Notaires lake stocks are being boosted to 50 fish in the small lake and over a 100 fish in the middle lake. What makes these fish great for fishing is that they are sterilised after the egg is fertilised so they don't spend time and energy producing small carp! another plus for the angler is that they don't take time out for spawning, they just eat and put up a great fight.

To add to the excitement Notaires will also stock the middle lake as a mixed fishery with additional Wells catfish and Sturgeon, so if you want that extra challenge visit Notaires.

Best Regards, Chris