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The Good,Bad,& Ugly

Posted: 21st Jan 2014

Happy New Year to all and we hope you had an enjoyable festive period!!!

It's been sometime since the last blog but I have only just returned the fish back into the lake after the draindown totalling 8 weeks right over Christmas. It's seen highs & lows, but has been very successful indeed, combined with the weather favouring me throughout the draindown, which has been a major stroke of luck. There is so much to mention that I will spread it out over blog updates over the next few weeks and update pictures through our facebook page, so you get chance to see an overview of the work.

So many fish have been moved, graded, returned, health checked, and if my wife hears the word "FISH" once more I think I might be swimming with them!!! Anybody who has been involved with a lake draindown before will know the enormity of the task involved, and it's not for the faint hearted, it certainly sorts the men from the boys. On that note a big thanks goes out to My Man Steve for being there week in, week out, with the success of the job never being possible without his help and dedication, cheers mate!!

I will quote facts and figures in the next blog, as there being far too much to list in this one blog, but returning the fish today and well into the hours of dark gave me a real sense of pride for this season coming, what a stunning stock of fish we have in 7 acres of water.

On the down side the "Bad News" is one of the jewels of The Sanctuary is no longer with us. After spawning time in 2013 we lost a fish midsummer, this is part and parcel of keeping any live stock regardless of how well the fishery is monitored, and from my perspective keeping pressure to a minimum is absolute key in reducing stress on the fish over the course of the season. But now and then Mother Nature will intervene and spawning time can cull the weak. The fish I could not identify was rotten and badly eaten by Crays but even so his body shape seemed to trigger alarm bells in my subconcious. Then as the season continued the "Black & White" fish had not been caught and claimed to have been lost near the net. I started to get a little worried towards October time but this fish can be so elusive at the best of times it was quite possible it had been hooked and lost, but my fears were answered when I drained the lake and he was not present. The lucky few who had the pleasure of catching this fish know how unique & beautiful he was, Gracing the front cover of "Anglers Mail" with the title "Worlds Most Amazing Carp" it was a very special fish indeed. But nothing lasts forever and with this in mind I spawned this fish in 2010 with another stunning female producing 1000s of offspring. I'm so glad to have had the foresight at the time and hopefully we can produce something like the father in the next few years? It's difficult to say if any will turn out like him, but the 110 I'm growing on are absolutley stunning. The picture attached is one of them showing a lovely dark coloration with a few sovereign scales to boot. Some of the others have the most wonderful deep chestnut and gold colours, which are becoming more prominent with age, just like their dad.

So every cloud has a silver lining & even though I'm gutted with the loss the next generation should be just as special, happy days ahead.

The first sweep of the net was mind blowing with the first 50 fish coming out all between 40-55lb+, which was a real sight to behold, I have taken as many pictures as was possible, but an hour into dark this evening was spent with the last fish being returned and almost glad to not lift another, and definetly not another Mad Grassy!!

I will leave it there for now, being back on line, expect more blogs & pictures over the coming week.

Over & Out

Team Sanctuary