Details of your catches:

Tough week - unfortunately we caught Winter's last blast. Arrived in temps of 23C and left in 0C. Glorious sunshine, monsoon rain, hail, frost, snow, lightening strikes....we had it all. Amongst it all we managed to land 8 carp between us. 2 x 50's (Both From Josh in Peg 4) PB for him with the biggest going 54lb 5oz 2 x 40's 4 Upper 30's

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Been before and fished to far margins at varying depths to try and locate. Little amount of bait used but we all went for some of Mehdi's partiblend.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Yes perfect for a drive and survive.

Were you happy with them?

Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes, been before and the lake can be moody but the stamp of fish this venue holds is right up there with the best.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Been using Angling lines for years now...always super helpful.

General Comments:

As most people have commented, Mehdi is a super guy....very passionate about both his lakes. Could not want a better owner. Maybe thinking about offering a food package with the restrictions on incoming goodies due to the joy of brexit. Mainly because we all hate cooking ;o)

Details of your catches:

8 fish caught between us and 5 of them 50’s, 1-30, 1-40 and a grass carp.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Small amount of bait to the far margin - finding the shallow water. I had 3 in 4ft of water and the others came from around 6ft. Yellow wafters or pop ups.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Basic but we knew that. Hot shower was nice.

Were you happy with them?

Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes

General Comments:

Overall a very tricky week with really high pressure, blue skys and frosty nights. Everyone who caught left with a new French PB so not all bad.

Details of your catches:

38lb, 39lb, 45lb, 50lb, 50lb, 52lb, 54lb, 59lb, 64lb mirrors. The long common at 75lb 10oz new lake record.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Used Mainlinebaits Hybrid boilies and pellets with sweetcorn in small amounts. Fished far side at different depths.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Yes, very good

Were you happy with them?

Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes, excellent service from Angling lines, whilst I was fishing in France they kept me informed of the changes to travel and what I needed to do.

General Comments:

Lovely venue and good facilities, Mehdi is one of the nicest people and has some amazing carp for you to go and catch.

Details of your catches:

8 Carp - 34lb, 34.5lb, 37.5lb, 38lb, 47.5lb, 48lb, 49lb, 57.5lb (PB)

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

We tried many baits between the 3 of us, if anything Mehdi's 10mm wafters with Mainline yellow topper (with sweetcorn in the mix) did slightly better. Fishing the far margin seems to be 'the way' but in my opinion finding the right depth on that margin is critical, this week most fish came from about 6ft - 7ft of water.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Yes, everything you need is there

Were you happy with them?

Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Always

General Comments:

I’m new to Old Oaks so I’ve little to back-up these comments but hopefully they will be food for thought. This was a very finicky week, one fish, 49lb came out on the first night from deep water. We then struggled for a few days with little or nothing showing. It was obvious fish were visiting the far margin but we couldn’t buy a bite, fishing the bottom of the shelf. The far margin shelf is a slope of 1:3 (3ft out is 1ft deep 12ft out is 4ft deep 24ft out is 8ft deep etc.) Eventually, by trying various depth we found that 6 to 7 ft deep was best. This is a very small sample to base a theory on especially as 2 of our 8 fish came from the deeps. Given our time again I think we’d place baits from along the far marginal shelf from 4ft down to 12ft between us and hopefully find the sweet spot. But as you well know things change week by week and month by month, so good luck.