Buying a Carp Fishing Lake... part 2

Lac Olivia Blog – Part 2

Back to that itch...

So, in early 2025 I decided to start looking for venues in France and shortlisting them, ready for viewing on my next available leave from work in July.

I planned to take my friend Adam Wilkinson with me, along with my wife Carol & Adam’s girlfriend Corrinne, on a weeklong road trip. Adam used to work for me at Essex Angling & also was a big part of bringing Lac Sebastian, my previous French lake, to life. I was after a second opinion, it’s often easy to get carried away and not clearly see all the pros & cons of a venue alone, especially with the serious amount of investment required both with initial purchase costs, fish stocking costs and ongoing maintenance for years to come.

With 6 short-listed venues to look at, all ‘virgin’ venues, none already established Carp fishing venues, we had our work cut out. The venues were all between 2.5 hours and 7 hours from Calais, a mix of both ‘closed’ venues and venues that had a dam on one side, with a Monk system, requiring DDT inspection.

A Monk system is a hydraulic structure, to control water levels in the lake. It typically involves a vertical shaft built into the lake’s embankment, connected to a drainpipe. Removable wooden boards or a gate are used to adjust the water level, allowing for drainage, overflow regulation, and easier access to the lake for both repairs and fish (in the case of a fish farm for example).

It’s no surprise that the further into central France you get, the more you get for your money, but the problem (if it is one) is the drive time & associated travel costs, both tolls & petrol. We had flown into Paris and picked up a hire car, so had a 4-hour drive South past Limoges to start looking at venues, the plan was then to head back north towards Calais and look at the remaining venues on the way.

I had taken some equipment with me, to evaluate the water quality (PH, Ammonia & dissolved oxygen, and a Deeper Pro type of castable echo sounder to check the water depth). All these tests, whilst not insurmountable, are important, especially the water depth. I was looking for at least six feet, preferably more in areas. In July, it was extremely hot weather, so I was considering that the venues would all be on the lower side, due to lack of rain & sun.

I’d bought an electronic PH meter from TEMU, and it did the job simply fine. With the Dissolved Oxygen Meter, I have a Milwaukee MW600 meter, and for any fishery owner, a critical piece of kit (mine cost about 330 Euros).

Anyway, I will not bore you with all the venues we looked at, all had pros & cons, my biggest concerns were the repairs to the waters requiring DDT inspection with dams & monks, with several of the dam walls over 5m in height. Draining and repairing on a regular basis was starting to lose its appeal, even though all the lakes were stunning.

Ironically, the last venue we were going to look at was only 2.5 hours from Calais, with two longish lakes of circa 3 acres each on an 8.5-acre land plot. Both lakes classified as closed waters, very heavily tree lined and according to my local French source who had helped me find the place, untouched for 40 years. The lakes are old gravel pits, extremely mature, and in need of a real lot of work.

Huge amount of landscaping required, trees to be felled, mistletoe in the trees to be removed, serious swim building, fencing, cabin, showers, Siltex to treat the silt (40 years of old leaves and branches in the water), removal of all the snags & debris in the lakes, the list went on & on. Not to mention netting, as the fish stock unknown & fish stocking. Ideally, fish stocking was planned to be done by Christmas, but this was very much dependent on netting the lakes, removing any unwanted fish, applying Siltex to both lakes, to start to break down the Silt (circa 1 ton per acre) and then adding the new Carp stock.

The place had a really ‘Carpy’ feel about it, I could see the potential, but would the numbers stack up. I spent a while checking what I felt would be necessary, clearing things with the wife and then made an initial, little bit cheeky, offer on the 5th July 2025. The Agent agreed to speak to the brothers who owned the lakes, also local Vinyard owners, which could prove handy in the future, as I do like a tipple.

My offer was, after a bit of haggling upwards unfortunately, accepted on the 9th July 2025. I was super happy, but now it was the waiting game with the Notaire & August shutdown in France of everything, so I was not expecting for a final sale completion until sometime early October. In mid October, my plan was to start the work in earnest, ready to try and open the lakes to the public on 2nd May 2026.

Let the work begin....

See you in Part 3.