Buying a Carp Fishing Lake... part 3

Lac Olivia Blog – Part 3

Decisions, Descisions...

So, it’s clear that buying a lake in France in 2025 is a slow process, at least in the Picardie Region of Northern France. As I mentioned in my previous Blog, my offer on the lake was accepted on 9th July 2025. By the 22nd September, yes September, I finally received the first set of documents from the Notaire, basically a ‘Power of Attorney to Purchase’ for them to act on my behalf signing documentation for the lakes.

If you are not easily available, giving the Notaire your ‘Power of Attorney to Purchase’ is the way to go to make things easier and less expensive, considering the cost of the Eurotunnel & Petrol, not to mention your time. For me it was a no brainer, as I was not living in France and working overseas in the Maldives at the time, so it was difficult for me to travel easily once documents ready in France for signing.

Its now, as I write this Blog, 21st October 2025, and although all parties have signed the Sale Agreement, there are still some further checks being done with local towns (Lac Olivia falls under two jurisdictions, so this is most likely another reason the final sale was taking so long. There are also checks with ‘SAFER’ (Sociétés d'Aménagement Foncier et d'Etablissement Rural), these are non-profit, government-supervised companies that regulate the land market to support rural development, agriculture, and environmental protection. Also, an opportunity for young farmers in the region to get first dibs on buying the land for use as agricultural farmland – unlikely to happen in Lac Olivia’s case, as it is an 8.5-acre land plot with the best part of this being covered in 6 acres of water & the rest big Poplar trees.

Regardless of not having the final sales agreement in my hand, time was running, so I headed back over to France for a 3-day trip 7-10th October. There was a lot I wanted to do whilst I was there, so I was well prepared in advance, ready to hit the green light to go, immediately the sale was concluded.

Our plan for the trip, in no particular order -

• Map out the depths of lakes using a bait boat & echo sounder

• Recheck the PH Levels, dissolved oxygen levels and ammonia present

• Mark out swims & fence lines / property boundary

• Mark any trees with an orange X that need to be removed

• Get some better photo’s & drone images of the lakes for the upcoming website, which was already under construction

• Meet the fish farmer who I’d been coordinating with on fish purchase & netting

• Physically walk the lakes, where possible, to check bottom condition, as an old gravel pit and the silt situation, as so many trees and the lakes apparently untouched for over 40 years.

• Meet the landscape guys who would be removing snags from the lake, building swims, pathways, foundations for the temporary lodge & facilities

• Visit the local lodge & timber supplier, including outdoor furniture (I needed a 20M2 lodge internal area, timber for the swim building & pub style garden benches between swims.

• Check out the local villages, including the essentials – Pharmacy, Supermarkets

• Visit local lodge suppliers and big DIY Bricomart stores, to check out prices of tools, mowers etc

• Have a chat with the local high quality pellet suppliers with respect to both costs, availability and delivery – remember, once you put fish in, you really need to be feeding them daily (something like 1 – 3% of their bodyweight per day, depending on time of year)

• Visit a few of the local recommended Cafe’s, Restaurants & Bars.

• Give some on the ground thought to the names of the two lakes situated on the Lac Olivia Fishery property. I wanted something related to wine, as the previous owner and his sons, owned a big local vineyard procuring high-quality wines. Plus, my wife and I are big white wine fans, so that had an impact on the decision-making process!

Echo Sounding the Lake depths...

I’d purchased a new bait boat with echo sounder specifically to do the mapping, it worked really-well, and after maybe 4 hours, we had a really good indication of depth levels across both lakes. Depths raged from 3 to 8 feet, which at that time of year, before the wetter colder months really set in was normal for lakes in that area. I guess the gravel extraction previously was most economical at those depths.

Naming the Lakes...

After a fair bit of deliberation, sometime after the visit, we decided to call the lakes on the Lac Olivia Fishery Vault Lake & Vintage Lake.

For those remotely interested in the thinking behind the Lake names or wine -

Vault......A wine vault refers to a walk-in, climate-controlled room for storing a large collection of generally valuable wine vintages. The term emphasizes security and a precisely controlled environment for the long-term preservation of wine.

Our plan was that Vault Lake, would have our younger stock of Carp, full of potential, being more of a runs style water with Carp to low / mid thirties and open fully to the public in 2027.

Vintage......A wine's vintage refers to the year the grapes were harvested. It indicates that the grapes for that bottle came from a single harvest year, and the quality is influenced by that year's specific weather conditions. This is why some vintages are better than others, and why certain years are more highly rated in specific wine regions.

Our plan was that Vintage Lake would have our more mature stock of Carp, it would be the first lake to be opened to friends initially, then guests in May 2026, with a very good stock of carp to mid / upper forties.

Vault Lake

Vault lake is 2.7 acres in size, with depths ranging from 3 to 6 feet in the warmer months, deepening by an extra foot or so in the wetter colder months, Vault it is slightly shallower all over generally than the adjacent Vintage Lake.

Vintage Lake

Vintage lake is almost 3 acres in size, with depths ranging from 4 to 8 feet, deepening by an extra foot or so in the wetter colder months, Vintage is slightly deeper generally all over than the adjacent Vault Lake.

Checking the Lakes bottom conditions / contours / features…

Unwisely, I had bough a couple of wading suits from TEMU online, you get what you pay for I guess, so within minutes of myself and my friend Steve heading out into the water to check the bottom make up of the lake, the wading suits were taking on water! Anyway, we got soaked but got the job done. I was pleasantly surprised that there was plenty of gravel areas, limited silt in the bulk of the lakes, only really deeper siltier areas at the ends of the lakes nearest the entrance, it seemed clear that the wind had pushed most of the old leaves to these areas over the years and there was 4-8 inches of silt in several areas, albeit still plenty of hard areas to fish on in those particular swims if you are not accustomed to or prefer not to be fishing over silt.

Fish Stocking...

We had positive discussions with the fish farmer and one of his senior employees, with both respect to the planned netting, best times to stock fish, water quality and number / size of fish that would be required. Word of advice, Carp are expensive and need to be booked well in advance if you want premium quality healthy fish!!

Landscaping, Lodge & Swim Building Plans...

The Landscape team were really- good, helped us mark out swims and fence lines with wooden stakes and bunting tape.

We had planned 4 swims on each lake, all on the one central bank between the two lakes, a single swim at each end of the lake and a nice central double swim.

The end swims cover some great areas of overhanging tress & bushes, with some silty & shallower areas, plus the chance to stalk a fish or two, as these swims are nicely secluded. The central double swim covers the deeper part of the lake, and from my experience I guessed many fish would be coming from the near and far side margins in these swims.

Local Hospitality...

Some of the restaurants we found were amazing, delicious fresh local produce and incredible service! Our Lake Bailiff will point you in the right direction if you fancy a pleasant change from lakeside Cuisine.

See you in Part 4, hopefully with some good news!!!