{"id":1834,"date":"2018-03-18T19:18:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T19:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/?p=1834"},"modified":"2018-03-18T19:36:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T19:36:29","slug":"springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/","title":{"rendered":"And then it snowed \u2026.Springtime at Croix Blanche Lakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"48lb<\/a>

48lb 5oz Tortue Common carp<\/p><\/div>\n

Just when I thought we\u2019d got through, what has been, one of the worst winters since I\u2019ve run the Croix Blanche lake<\/a>s..It snowed again! The temperature plummeted from a balmy 17\u00b0C last week to -4\u00b0C last night\u2026
\nIt has to be said, this winter has been particularly strange by the huge variations is weather we have had. Up until Christmas things were mild and the fishing was very good. Dutch anglers who spent Christmas at the venue caught a number of nice fish.
\nThen as 2018 dawned, so did the rain. Day after day it rained.. not just the odd shower, but prolonged precipitation that saw the rivers swell, burst their banks and cause wide spread flooding. Any of you who might have watched the news, will have seen Paris flooded out.<\/p>\n

\"Croix<\/a>

Croix Blanche Flood<\/p><\/div>\n

And so our venue also got hit by the worst floods since I\u2019ve been here. It became impossible to walk around the venue without waders and the two main lakes melded into one large lake. With the major downstream cities threatened by the high-water levels, the river authorities kept the barrages closed. Thus stifling the run off along our valley and keeping all the fields under several feet of water. As the venue is fed by the water table, which became totally saturated, so the level continued to rise. Tracks disappeared under water, store rooms were inundated and shoals of roach and spawning pike could be seen on the pathways.
\nAfter several weeks of this situation the rain stopped the thermometer plunged and the precipitation came in the shape of snow. Several inches of snow. It looks pretty, but it is a real pain. As the temperature continued their decent below zero, so the lakes froze over and the snow settled on the icy surface.<\/p>\n

\"Peg<\/a>

Peg 01 on Croix Blanche in the snow<\/p><\/div>\n

One upside of the freeze, was that the rivers dropped and so did the lakes. After a couple of weeks of negative temperatures, the levels were down enough to allow access around the venue and I was once again the owner to 2 separate gravel pits.<\/p>\n

\"Snow<\/a>

Snow at Croix Blanche<\/p><\/div>\n

The first anglers on then since Christmas were Lindsay and Jason.. Braving what turned into a pretty wet week, punctuated by a couple of bright sunny days. The bright mild, weather certainly brought the carp out, with lots of showing fish. It also saw the guys bank the first to fish of the year. A mint 27lb mirror for Jason, and a fabulous 48lb 5oz common for Lindsay, banked from peg 14 on the Tortue Lake<\/a>. Two fish is though pretty hard fishing, but under the conditions better than a blank. Spring is so often hit and miss as the temperatures fluctuate and everything struggles to wake from its winter torpor.
\nAnd as I said at the outset, three days from the official start to Spring \u2026 It snowed !!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when I thought we\u2019d got through, what has been, one of the worst winters since I\u2019ve run the Croix Blanche lakes..It snowed again! The temperature plummeted from a balmy 17\u00b0C last week to -4\u00b0C last night\u2026 It has to be said, this winter has been particularly strange by the\u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[14,10,94,6,7,112,9,64,111,65],"yoast_head":"\nAnd then it snowed \u2026.Springtime at Croix Blanche Lakes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"And then it snowed \u2026.Springtime at Croix Blanche Lakes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just when I thought we\u2019d got through, what has been, one of the worst winters since I\u2019ve run the Croix Blanche lakes..It snowed again! The temperature plummeted from a balmy 17\u00b0C last week to -4\u00b0C last night\u2026 It has to be said, this winter has been particularly strange by the\u2026 Continue reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Croix Blanche Lakes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/croix.lakes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-18T19:18:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-18T19:36:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/48lb.jpg?fit=540%2C394&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Croix_Blanche\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Croix_Blanche\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/\",\"name\":\"Croix Blanche Lakes\",\"description\":\"Carp Fishing Lakes in France\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/48lb.jpg?fit=540%2C394&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/48lb.jpg?fit=540%2C394&ssl=1\",\"width\":540,\"height\":394},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/\",\"name\":\"And then it snowed \\u2026.Springtime at Croix Blanche Lakes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-18T19:18:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-18T19:36:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/#\/schema\/person\/e94f93d717a1d017e9e46ec57b99ca5b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/springtime-at-croix-blanche-lakes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"And then it snowed \\u2026.Springtime at Croix Blanche Lakes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/#\/schema\/person\/e94f93d717a1d017e9e46ec57b99ca5b\",\"name\":\"Gareth Watkins\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c17da85a74ced4b313ae08d73e060f18?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c17da85a74ced4b313ae08d73e060f18?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gareth Watkins\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/48lb.jpg?fit=540%2C394&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5r2Gm-tA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":78,"url":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/croix-blanche-lakes-magazine-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":1834,"position":0},"title":"Croix Blanche Lakes Magazine 2015","date":"December 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is my combined Croix Blanche Lakes magazine & brochure for our carp fishing venue in northern France. It has info on the venue, plus a few articles you may find useful by myself and guest writers. \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Magazine"","img":{"alt_text":"Croix Blanche 2015 brochure","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/2015-brochure01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":377,"url":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/tackling-croix-blanche-lakes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1834,"position":1},"title":"Tackling up for Croix Blanche Lakes","date":"December 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Tackling up for Croix Blanche Lakes I thought I\u2019d do a blog piece to give some advice to first time anglers to our Carp fishing in France venue or to those who found their tackle wanting last time out. It is worth bearing in mind that there are some very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Catfish"","img":{"alt_text":"Landing a carp on Croix Blanche Lake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Landing-a-fish-on-Croix-Blanche.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":933,"url":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/holidays-france-france-carp\/","url_meta":{"origin":1834,"position":2},"title":"Holidays in France : Why France for Carp?","date":"December 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Holidays in France : Why France for Carp? Carp fishing as we all know is\u00a0 immensely popular now, with more and more people coming into the sport every year and more people seeking holidays in France. With more pressure on the ticket lakes, club lakes and syndicates across the UK,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lakes"","img":{"alt_text":"Croix Blanche Lakes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Croix-Blanche-Lakes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":76,"url":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/new-complex-record-catfish-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":1834,"position":3},"title":"New Complex Record Catfish","date":"December 3, 2014","format":"image","excerpt":"The complex record catfish was smashed this week when Maidstone angler Clive Holbrook banked a giant 131lb (59kg) moggie from peg 11 on the Tortue Lake of the Croix Blanche Complex. Clive from Maidstone in Kent, UK tempted the giant fish on double halibut pellet, but using specific catfish tackle.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lakes"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/131cat02.jpg?fit=1200%2C926&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":393,"url":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/new-stock-carp-croix-blanche-lakes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1834,"position":4},"title":"New stock carp for Croix Blanche Lakes","date":"December 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"New stock carp for Croix Blanche Lakes \u00a0 Last night I took delivery of some new young carp at the Croix Blanche Lakes fishery. It\u2019s been a couple of years since I purchased any new stock carp for Croix Blanche Lakes, so I opted this year to get a small\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fish"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1086,"url":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/holidays-france-fishing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1834,"position":5},"title":"Holidays in France: More than Fishing !","date":"February 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Holidays in France: More than Fishing ! by Steve Howard For me, fishing is much more than simply casting a line to catch a fish, it\u2019s much, much more than that. In fact, if that was all that angling had going for it, I\u2019d probably have given it a wide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Guest Article"","img":{"alt_text":"Sunset over Croix Blanche Lake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/steve02.jpg?fit=800%2C518&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1835,"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834\/revisions\/1835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croixblanchelakes.com\/WordPress3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}