Etang de la Botte

After a b&h (bad habit) and a quick tug on the nesspresso machine, here goes for some more news on the lakes:

La Botte
In early March we will be digging a new borehole for the water, putting new wash bassins in, changing the shower arrangement... The comments on these have been regular and we are committed that these improvements will be made before the start of 2009 season. Photos of the new structures will be placed both on website and this blog.
I dont know if you have noticed on your regular UK waters that some years they don't behave as consistently as usual, this was the case for La Botte in 2008 as it was for the Goncourt Great Lake in 2007, Boux and Les Saules in 2005... The first three weeks of the 08 season got us quite worried on what was going on as few fish graced the bank whereas previous years start of season was awesome, then came some massive captures with guests only fishing two rods because they could not keep up with action... Things did even out come April and we were more than reassured that not only the fish were healthy but they were also doing major growth. On a couple of june 2008 weeks the carp had a strange behaviour of hammering natural food on one side of the lake for 5-8days then deserting the area only to establish camp on the other side of the lake for the following 5-8days. That feeding scenerio worked for the fish but led to some frustration of guests watching through binoculars the others anglers hauling on the far bank. Pascale on site had to deal with that understandable frustration of some guests not sharing consistent action, but and it is a big but, those that did not have serious hauls of fish in numbers did encounter some very big carp. It was like the big carp were doing their own thing whilst the sundenly created shoals were busy elsewhere. From experience, I know that this chance in behaviour is punctual because on la botte it is not feature and food related as it may be on some other peggy lakes. The venue has a huge stock of carp compared to most lakes but the above just shows that even then, they may not behave and spread evenly every week like pawns on a chessboard. La Botte is both suited to experienced continental anglers looking for a 55lb+ or even 60+ and those relatively inexperienced wishing to get cramp from rod action. It's fairly unusual for one lake to suit both ambitions.