Built By A Carper

James's trade is river and lake management, and he's been a carper for thirty-odd years. So when he planned our new swims, he had three things in mind: what'll last, what's right for the fish, and what he'd actually want to fish from himself.

That's really the whole story. Everything else is just how much graft it took to get there.

The Old Swims

When we took over Genêts in August 2025, the swims had done their years. Plenty of good fish had been landed off them - but they were small, tight on space, and not the safest in the dark.

We wanted to give our anglers more. So over winter we built three brand new doubles from scratch - generous platforms, the biggest a full 9m x 4m. They vary a touch in size because we built around the existing bank and the trees rather than flatten everything - the lake came first.

The Plan: Rock Solid Foundations

Before any cages went in, there was serious groundwork. The old swims were small wooden platforms out over the water. Where the bank was steep, we dug the whole lot back and down to water level to carve out proper space. Then, at the front, we set gabion cages out into the water itself - big steel baskets packed with rock - and built the decking over the top to extend the platform further still. The old stone steps? Kept, for getting down into the swim. The cages won't rot, won't shift, and will outlast all of us.

One boring-but-important detail: gabion cages are made of zinc, and zinc leaching into the water isn't good for carp. So ours are PVC-coated. Nothing clever - just not cutting corners where the fish are concerned.

All in, 56 tonnes of rock went into the three swims!!!

The Devil's Sewing

Before we could fill a single cage, we had to build the cages. By hand. Every. Single. One.

Tied together with wire, edge by edge, corner by corner, until our hands gave out. We christened it "the Devil's Sewing" by about the second cage, and the name stuck. James had barely any fingers left by the end of it.

Glamorous, it was not. 😅

All On One Level - Why It Matters

Any carper will spot this one straight away - it's exactly why we did it: we dug the bank out so all three swims sit at one level with the water.

That means room to handle a carp properly. Space to get in the water with the big ones, somewhere safe to weigh, and no carrying a fish of a lifetime up a flight of concrete steps to the scales. Fish care designed in from the ground up.

The Wet Bit

Then the actual building. In February. In the water.

James has two pairs of waders - one good pair, and one with a small hole in. Of course, that morning he grabbed the dodgy ones. The digger was already in and working, no turning back - so he spent the whole day stood in freezing French water in waders that were, frankly, a waste of neoprene. 🙄

Two jobs were going on at once. The digger doing trip after trip, filling the cages - long work, but the machine was carrying it. And the gabion bags, filled by hand, for the digger to lift into place. The digger had the easy job. Trust us. 😂

Cold doesn't quite cover it. But there's no shortcut to doing it right, and we've one rule at Genêts: do it once, do it properly, then look after it.

More Graft Up Top

That was the foundations sorted. Still a long way to go.

James built the frames from solid 4m oak - heavy, beautiful, built to last. Our neighbours were absolute legends here, shifting load after load of seriously heavy wood up to the lake. We were blown away by how much they pitched in.

Before the boards went on, each swim got its own natural algae control built in underneath. If we can manage the lake naturally, that's what we'll always do.

Then James built it all out - the backboards, the handrails, the decking - every piece cut and laid by hand, working late into the night to get them ready in time. And the finishing touch: woodchip. About 3 tonnes of it, barrowed and trailered in by hand because the ground was too wet to get any more plant on site (lesson learnt the hard way). Neighbours to the rescue again. We honestly couldn't have got it over the line without them.

What You Get Now

Three proper double swims. Solid frames, decking right out over the water, handrails, lighting, one with a built-in seat. Room to fish, room to land them, room to look after them.

No more tiny platforms. No more praying you don't go in at night. Just proper swims, built to be fished from.

The Names

Some lakes number their swims, some go for names. We named ours during the build.

Given what they cost us, there was only ever going to be one set of names.

Blood. Sweat. And Tears. 🎣

Maybe they'll get official names one day, maybe they won't. But to us? That's what they'll always be.

Serious carp, relaxed vibes 🎣