Details of your catches:

A very difficult week's fishing after a spell of very cold weather the week before our arrival. The lake simply shut down. Shame, as the weather on our week was actually very mild. A 40lb 8oz mirror on the first morning was the only carp of the session. Although a 6lb eel was also caught. A couple of last gasp runs early Friday morning could have changed things a little, but unfortunately both were lost.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

We tried absolutely everything.... singles, bags, sticks, baited spots, even maggots, but carp were simply not playing ball. The runs we did get came from singles on a baited area of around 150 boilies. The two late runs both came to snowman rigs fished in solid bags. Bites from open water and far margin.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Yes

Were you happy with them?

Yes.... Good size freezer and fridge. Nice clean toilet and shower areas + plenty of hot water.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes

General Comments:

I know Old Oaks is a great lake when the fish play ball. We were just unlucky with weather. 3 anglers in our party, which gave us all a good amount of water to fish (using pegs 1, 3 and 4). Mehdi seems like a lovely guy, although only really saw him on arrival, as we had to leave really early on the Saturday morning. Although he is always available if you give him a call. We will be back again to try our luck.

Details of your catches:

Peg 4 – Glen Mirror Carp – 44.1lb, 42.1lb, 38.5lb, 54.8lb, 39.14lb, 38.9lb, 36.4lb, 41.5lb, 38.8lb, 32.9lb. Peg 3 – Jamie Common Carp – 63lb 3oz (Long Common) Mirror Carp – 34.7lb, 37lb, 38.2lb, 45lb. Grass Carp – 34lb, 34.4lb. Peg 2 – Darren Mirror Carp – 40lb, 41.12lb, 31.8lb, 28.6lb, 42.9lb, 33.5lb, 45.8lb 49.75lb, 42.9lb. Common Carp – 48lb, 37.10lb.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Critically balance wafters wrapped in Korda Super Wrap, topped with either pink or yellow pop up corn top. (see comments below)

Were the facilities what you expected?

As we visited before it was exactly as we expected

Were you happy with them?

Fantastic facilities could not have been better!!!

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Definitely!!

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Definitely!

General Comments:

We arrived for our next visit to Old Oaks, three of us fishing the lake. It being the first, second and third time to fish this fantastic lake! The facilities were as always fantastic, no issues what so ever it has plenty of room inside both fridge and freezer, the shower was so great after a days fishing with a huge water tank supplying hot water! Mehdi had just replaced the freezer as the previous one had decided to give up after 13 years! He met us at the entrance and opened the gates to our home for the next week, the great thing is that he will just leave you to it, unless you have an issue then he is there straight away. So weather conditions were set to be perfect with the storm having pushed through a few days earlier, and low pressure set for the flowing week. We fished Pegs 2,3 and 4 and were able to spread our rods around all sections of the lake. The baits we used were the following; Essential Cell (The Bait and Feed Company), The Nutz and Jackie Chan, Rock Lobster (Active Bait Solutions). We also fed Particle and sweet corn, together with various sized pellets, together with crushed and broken up boilies, with some secret liquids to enhance the flavours in the water. We set up and within minutes we thought we were going to be cursed with the Poisson Chat, all three catching them almost immediately, so we then wrapped our baits using the KORDA Super Wrap, and from that moment we have no further issues at all with the Chat! Mehdi said we would need to work for the fish, and this is what we did. It took a few days to figure out their hiding places but once this was established we were onto the week of a lifetime. Basically during the day, the fish hugged the far margins as the water level was around 3-4ft, and a ledge was formed about 4-5 feet in width, this then dropped off rapidly to around 10ft. Also casting to bubbles in the deeper water paid off. Normally within 20 minutes the fish were hooked and fighting. The fish sat in the margin during the day, and then dropped to deeper water at night. Fish during the day coming from 10am – 8pm, and then in the night from 2am-5am. These fish fight so hard, they just don’t know when to give up! They hold the depths right up until they are near the rods, and then when they come up, away they go again fighting, it was the best fighting fish we ever encounter. Here are the fish weights per peg; Peg 4 – Glen Mirror Carp – 44.1lb, 42.1lb, 38.5lb, 54.8lb, 39.14lb, 38.9lb, 36.4lb, 41.5lb, 38.8lb, 32.9lb. Peg 3 – Jamie Common Carp – 63lb 3oz (Long Common) Mirror Carp – 34.7lb, 37lb, 38.2lb, 45lb. Grass Carp – 34lb, 34.4lb. Peg 2 – Darren Mirror Carp – 40lb, 41.12lb, 31.8lb, 28.6lb, 42.9lb, 33.5lb, 45.8lb 49.75lb, 42.9lb. Common Carp – 48lb, 37.10lb. This equalled 28 fish and weighing a massive 1,135.01lb’s. When on form this lake explodes with fish, they simply can’t get enough, and just keep coming for more. This lake just keeps getting better and better, don’t get me wrong, you have to work to catch them, but once caught its worth every penny going. We will be back again it has to be the best lake in Angling lines. This week all pegs produced fish from the far margins, and then again in deeper water during the night. Once meshed there was NO issues with any Chat destroying the bait. To see the long common come out, and first time since April was an absolute pleasure even if it was caught by Jamie, this fish almost doubled his previous PB, together with is first time with the ever fighting grass carp. I think for myself it has been the fishing trip of a lifetime, and will be hard to top in future. Thank you Medhi for looking after such a great lake, and allowing people to fish them, he truly is passionate about his lakes and the fish in them, and will be on call at any time to help with any issues or tips to help increase your chances of catching.

Details of your catches:

Between 4 anglers we had 12 fish. 8 x 30's 2 x 40's 2 x 50's Biggest fish 51.04lb Most of the 30's were upper 30's

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

We found the poisson chat a problem but we were prepared for them by wrapping our baits and tipping with pop us and fake corn which prolonged the baits in the water. We mainly used boiles but was putting out partyblend to make sure there was some bait left in the area in case we were being wiped out by the poisson chat.

Were the facilities what you expected?

The facilities were what we expected and made our stay enjoyable.

Were you happy with them?

I would recommend taking extra freeze cool packs and change them daily in your cool box to keep food fresh. We froze our food and bait straight way and took out what we needed for the next day and put it in the fridge as we took a lot of food and worried the fridge wouldn't cope being fully loaded.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Absolutely loved the place and the facilities. Medhi was really helpful and a real nice guy. The weather was so hot and we feel that if it was a bit cooler then maybe more fish would have came out. These fish fight really hard in the deep margins and all of us had said that apart from the slight mouth damage, these fish were immaculate.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Definately

General Comments:

We will be back for another go at some of the bigger fish.

Details of your catches:

29 fish caught, biggest 51lb Smallest 27lb, average size 44lb Poission chat 260 caught and killed

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Single Boillie wrapped in armour mesh topped with yellow or pink rubber corn with around 30 free baits slatterd in the area.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Facilities were good. There was always hot water although this was not needed in the heat. Drinking water from the tap is ok and Large chest freezer was a saver

Were you happy with them?

The fridge supplied is not very cold, in fact with the heat we experienced food was going off in the fridge and we found using a cold box was more cold efficient. The supplied BBQ is in the wrong place really to far from pegs 4 and 5 if you wanted to carry on fishing while eating, this problem was fixed by our BBQ expert Jamie who brought his own portable large BBQ and left it there for other anglers, cheers pal.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

I would recommend this lake and I would go again my self however this was my 11th French carp holiday in and around August and iv never experienced the volume of poisson chat that we dealt with this year. Literally 10s of thousands all over the place. We appreciate that this lake can not be drained in order to control the chats but a heads up of the severity of the problem would have been appreciated. **Angling Lines note** We're sorry that the poisson chat caused an issue for you this week. We asked Mehdi for an update... 'With temperatures averaging 36deg that week, the poisson chat were exceptionally active. They are being removed where possible and the black bass, pike and catfish are doing their bit too! Meshing baits and or using fake corn is the best way to fish when they are active. Some boilies attract them strongly while some other are not so attractive.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes I would and I already have.

General Comments:

Pegs 5 and 4 were the most productive which is why Joel Hersay in peg 2 won angler of the week for me, this was a very difficult and at time Barron part of the lake and for Joel to catch 6 carp and lose just 1 was an impressive achievement and matching his PB at 48lb 8oz was fantastic, all this in an average temptirure of 36 degrees, One of the hottest weeks we have had is a great bit of angling. Well done pal, and well done to Alfi major for catching his first 40lb carp, I'm sure there's loads more to come. P.S Jamie Buttwell caught another 50lb carp...... I'm getting sick of this! 😉