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Chris Naylor - 2009 Oakwood Blog A New Beginning
It was through a chance conversation at Desire with Ben and Neil that I found out about their forthcoming plans to fish Oakwood. I’d visited the lake around 5 years previously and found it to be truly stunning. Although it was a lovely looking lake with plenty of carpy looking spots, I think I was a little daunted at the time by the size of the place, the low stocking levels and decided that it wasn’t what I was looking for and to be honest I’d totally forgotten about the place. It didn’t take long for the old memories to come flooding back, the large amount of open water, carpy looking margins, and the sense of seclusion, the limited number of other anglers and the low stock of large carp. I remembered seeing a photo of a dark 30lb common and a big scaly mirror and wondered how big they would be now; I could just picture myself hidden away on the banks of this beautiful lake totally forgetting about the pressures of everyday life. The prizes hidden under the surface of this great lake could really make your dreams come. I knew straight away that this was the place I had been looking for and Ben and Neil were kind enough to welcome me to join them and form a three man team to tackle Oakwood. It looked as if the lake I’d been looking for had actually found me.
On returning to England it was all I could think about and I knew that Neil and Ben were just as excited as I was. Ideas were bouncing around between us and plans were being made to cover our fishing in a series of regularly updated blogs covering our thoughts before, during and after sessions and this just whetted my appetite even more. I was soon making plans for my return visit to Oakwood.
My first visit was the next weekend and I wasn’t disappointed, the lake was just as I remembered it. Big, weedy and crystal clear, the even better news was that the car park was nearly empty which I hoped meant that not many people would be fishing it this year. I could just imagine those big dark coloured carp swimming around in the clear water, somewhere out there. The lake didn’t look as big this time round and I thought yes, this is what I want from my fishing now. I’m ready for this style of fishing. It was to be a new kind of challenge. Something to get the old grey matter working again, something totally different to what I’d been doing for the previous few years. It was to be the start of a new chapter in my carp fishing career and it was going to be covered on the internet! I couldn’t wait to get started and was soon making plans to buy a ticket for this special water. Date: Thursday 30th July 2009 Time: 6.30pm Preparation
I’ve been excited over the last week as I can’t wait to get back to the lake and buy my ticket. The place has been on my mind constantly. I’ve been all over the internet trying to find every last scrap of information I can which has all been stored away and will help me on my way to succeed on Oakwood. I’ve been busy re-stocking my depleted tackle box with essential items and an order has been placed with franks leads for a supply of 2 and 3oz textured dumpy pear leads. I know that the lake bed is a lot of silt and weed and I feel that the dumpy pear lead will give a better presentation in these conditions and I will also be able to feel the lead down better due to the large contact area on the bottom of the lead. I like the textured finish that is available on franks leads as I feel that colour is more realistic and better able to blend in to the bottom. I like to do everything I can to remove any shininess from my end tackle and using these leads is just another step in achieving this. I’ve also sorted out all non-essential gear from my rucksack. I’d packed the kitchen sink for a week in France but knew that travelling light and moving onto fish would be one of the keys to success, so out went most of the unnecessary luxury items that were packed. As the majority of my sessions would be at the most 24 hours long I wanted the bear minimum amount of gear with me as I didn’t want any hindrance to prevent a quick move if necessary.
I’ve cut down on all my gear and will only be taking the following items; A small rod bag containing two fishing rods and a marker, these will be left set up, a 60” umbrella with no groundsheet, landing net and weigh sling, bankstick’s and throwing stick. I will also be taking a bedchair with sleeping bag folded up inside, a large unhooking mat and a rucksack containing all other essential items. As access around the lake is fairly easy this will all be loaded on to a wheel barrow to make moving easier.
Earlier this year I made the decision to switch to a braded mainline. I liked the thought of being in instant contact with the fish and the added extra bite sensitivity that would be offered. I also knew that I would be fishing fairly long range in France and the braid could only help me in this situation. After a few trial sessions at some local waters where I got used to playing fish I realised I should have made the switch over sooner. After my early success things went a little wrong, when I discovered that the braid I had floated. Over short distances this wasn’t a problem as a flying backlead and a normal backlead would keep it all down, over long distances though I had trouble pinning it all down and big loops would come up off the bottom, as I discovered when a few fish kited through it, resulting in a BIG messy knot and a lot of lost braid. I also found that the Korda flying backleads are not suitable for use with braid as the plastic inner wears and the braid catches in the slit used for quick on and off purposes and locks on to the line. There are no rules saying you can’t use braid on Oakwood so with half empty spools I made the decision to re-spool with some more. This time I made sure to buy a true sinking braid, so hopefully no more tangles. While using braid I have been coupling it with a heavy fluorocarbon leader of about six feet long, firstly to offer some protection to the fish and secondly to make sure the line leading to the end tackle is well pinned down and hidden out of the fish’s way. This has been a success with no marks or cuts on any of the fish I’ve caught using this and I’m sure has lead to a few extra carp on the bank.
While in France my trusty Coleman stove packed up due to a blocked generator and while trying to fix it managed to well and truly break it. Thanks to all the guys who let me use their cookers for the week! I’ve been thinking about switching over to gas for a while so this seamed like the ideal opportunity to. I’ve used petrol Coleman stoves for a number for years as they are always reliable and are powerful and boil water very quickly. The only down side is that they are quite bulky and have to be stored in a bag on their own, otherwise everything ends up smelling and tasting of petrol. As I wanted to travel light everything had to be able to fit in one rucksack. After a quick look on EBay I’d soon bought a new small foldable gas cooker that was just what I wanted. I’ll repair the Coleman as it will still be used for the annual trip to France. I use the internet quite a lot to buy bits of fishing tackle as I started to get fed up of going into my local tackle shop and finding the shelves bare and not being able to get what I wanted! It’s a lot less hassle and works out cheaper too as I only buy what I want and not what catches my eye. A few bits have started to arrive now and I’m getting really excited. Our first session is planned for next Saturday and we can’t wait. I bought my ticket at the weekend and had my first proper look around. There weren’t many other anglers on just a couple of pleasure fisherman float fishing for the bream and tench. The weed was heavy and up to the surface in places but clear spots and channels could easily be seen in the clear water. Unfortunately no carp were seen on this trip but I didn’t walk far as my girlfriend was waiting patiently in the car. The rest of this week is going to fly by and my time will be spent tying up a few rigs and making sure that all of my gear is prepared ready for the big off on Saturday morning. Date: Monday 3rd August 2009 Time: 8.17pm The First Session
I knew that the lake was weedy as it could be seen on the surface in most pegs, but after a good look in a couple of pegs I could see that there were clear sandy looking spots surrounded by lower level weed. As I started to set up my rods I kept my eyes on the water hoping to see some movement from the carp but nothing moved. I didn’t opt to use a marker rod to plumb and feel the bottom as I could see it was mainly weed. I decided to use a fishing rod and cast a lead around until I felt it cleanly hit the bottom and then clip up to the spot and mark the line so I would be able to cast to the same spot again. I guessed the depth to be around 4 feet. I opted to fish 2oz leads on a lead clip with a soft fluorocarbon leader that would sink out of sight. Hooklinks were tied using a coated braid to size 8 Korda Kurv with a small ring on the shank and were about 8” long. They were very similar to what I had used with great success in France but scaled down a bit. The first rod was cast to a clean gravel run down the right hand margin and the second to a clear spot at around 25 yards on the edge of a weed bed, hook baits were single16mm barrel shaped bottom baits and around 30 freebies were scattered around each area. The remainder of my gear was left on the barrow ready for a quick move if needed. At around 1 pm and after seeing no fish movement I couldn’t resist reeling my rods in to check my end tackle was in good order, they both came back untangled and free from any weed, at least something I was doing was doing was right. Fresh baits were put on and were cast back to the same places. The rod fished to the weed went spot on first cast but I had trouble with the margin rod and got caught on an unseen snag and had to pull for a break. As I hadn’t seen anything so far I decided that it would be a good time to move and started heading back towards Ben and Neil and got another good soaking! After a half hour trek over wet uneven ground I was back where I started and after checking with the guys, started setting up in a small peg in-between them. They reported that the weed was just as bad and had had to wade baits out and place on small clear spots in amongst the weed. I set up camp first so I had some shelter from the bad weather and to give my bed a chance to dry out a bit. After a couple of casts I too was struggling to feel the lead hit the bottom so I donned the chest waders and started looking for spots in the margins and found a lovely clear spot down to the left where a rig was placed but couldn’t find any more. I decided to try and make a spot using my net pole and pulled up a fair bit of weed but also stirred up plenty of black mud and silt so couldn’t see what I had achieved and wasn’t confident in placing a bait there. Instead this rod was cast to what felt like an area of short weed and with a long hooklink and PVA foam on the hook and I felt that the bait would be presented well enough. The remainder of the evening was spent chatting with Neil and Ben, discussing our future plans for fishing Oakwood and about our blog coverage through Neil’s website. We were lucky enough to see a couple of carp show in the general area we were fishing, and we also noted a carpy looking swirl over the area I had tried to clear and over areas that had been disturbed whilst wading. It was interesting to see fish activity so soon over the areas where the bottom had been disturbed. Maybe that was one way of getting the fish to come to you. It will definitely be something I‘ll be trying again and next time I’ll have a baited rig down there.  Our first sunset on Oakwood No fish were caught the first night, although Neil and Ben both had a couple of liners. This also gave me confidence to fish close in spots where I could place and bait my rigs accurately. I was already thinking ahead to my next visit and had started to form a plan of how to tackle this vast piece of water. I packed up early in the morning and after scattering bait over the areas I had been fishing, I was away home and left the guys to it for a couple more hours. After less than 24 hours fishing I was hooked and couldn’t wait to be back for my next session.
I have been back to Oakwood for a quick overnight session, travelling straight there after finishing work on Friday afternoon. The area that we fished last week didn’t look very inviting to me, and looked like one giant weed bed after plenty of duckweed had gathered all over the area we had been fishing. I continued walking further down the bank and found a small neglected swim that was fairly free from surface weed and after a quick lead around I found weed on the bottom but nothing that couldn’t be fished in safely. After donning my chesties and grabbing my landing net handle I set off up the margins looking and feeling the bottom for clear spots. I found a spot about 3 feet across and a poke of the net pole revealed the bottom to be soft mud about an inch thick with firm gravel underneath, one rod would be placed here. No more spots could be found so I decided to have a go at making one again. After 10 minutes of graft I was sure I’d got plenty of weed out and had also stirred up plenty of mud and silt, I gave the water time to clear and another was placed. Both spots were baited with chopped and whole boilies and a couple of handfuls of pellet. I kept my eyes on the water for the afternoon and saw a carp roll directly in front of me at about 50 yards in the weed bed and felt confident that my spots would produce a bite. I started getting single bleeps at around midnight but was getting no movement on the bobbin. I gave the braid a small pull and felt nothing so put the bleeps down to fish moving through the weed where my line lay. The right hand rod remained silent. At just before 2am I had a fast rise on the left hand bobbin and the braid remained tight, I lifted the rod and a bream skimmed in across the surface. It was quickly unhooked in the edge and I estimated the weight to be around 6lb. I re-baited and attached a small PVA bag of crushed boilies and flicked the rig back to the spot, hoping that my accuracy would be close enough in the dark. The two rods remained silent for the remainder of the session. Before I left in the morning I baited the two spots with all the bait that was left in my bucket, a mixture of pellets, sweetcorn and chopped and whole boilies. Looking back and thinking about my last session it seemed strange to me that with both rods fished with the same bait and on similar margin spots, only one produced a bream. The spots weren’t very far apart so I would have expected at least some liners on my right hand rod. The only real difference was the fact that I made the one spot and stirred up the bottom. I think that it is going to be worth raking the bottom before I fish next time, firstly to clear any weed and secondly to stir up the clear water and try and draw some fish in. I’ve been busy making a weed rake that screws on to my net pole and can’t wait to get out and try it next week. I’ll also be dropping the pellets from my feed and replacing them with some hempseed, I’ll still be using chopped and whole boilies though. I am happy with my end tackle presentation but will be adding some small blobs of tungsten putty to the fluorocarbon leader to get it down in the weed more; the actual rig will remain the same as I’m happy with its hooking potential. Date: Tuesday 18th August 2009 Time: 5.25pm I am really enjoying fishing quick overnight sessions and have got a good routine going on now. Travelling to Oakwood straight from work on Friday afternoon I arrive at the lake around half past two, which means I can spend a couple of hours having a good look and still have time to get set up and the rods out on good spots before the light starts to fade. I am hardly taking any gear with me now after really thinning out all the unnecessary items, which means that the barrow is nice and light so I can get to my chosen swim quickly without being to worn out when I get there! After looking around I didn’t see any signs of carp so I decided to fish the same peg as last week, at least I knew that there would be a couple of spots that I could fish to in amongst the weed. The first thing I did was to check the spots that I fished last week. Where I caught the bream from had started to weed over, the area did seem a little deeper and the bottom a little firmer than the surrounding lake bed. I couldn’t even find the second spot that I fished the weed had grown so much. As I didn’t have any other spots to fish at this time I decided to stay where I was and get to work with my new weed rake. I soon had made a hole about 2 feet across in the dense weed where I could place a rig, I even cleared a narrow strip between the spot and where the peg was to lay my line down in to. This was baited with 50 16mm barrel baits and a couple of handfuls of hempseed. I didn’t fancy fishing two rods close in again, so I had a lead about in the area where I saw a fish roll the previous week. I found an area where I could feel the lead hit the bottom and it pulled back freely with the odd knock from a stone. Another rig was cast to this spot and around half a kilo of boilies were spread around the area with a catapult. I have been getting my boilies from Five Star Baits and they really are top notch. I have been using the Fish Mix with tuna, peach and black pepper for the last 12 months and have had success everywhere I’ve used it. I was woken before dawn, not by a screaming run but by Neil and Ben who had arrived for their session and armed with mugs, they wanted a coffee before starting. The three of us watched the water while sipping our drinks and only saw some swirls in the edge and small fry jumping. It wasn’t long before they were returning to their cars to collect their gear. After another couple of drinks and some biscuits it was time to start packing away. Before I left I waded out to the spot I’d made to have a look, I wasn’t sure if I could see any bait left on the spot and the water soon coloured up so I was left wondering, had I been done? Around a kilo of bait was spread over the spot and surrounding weed before I left. I’ve been thinking…..Now after fishing a few pegs and seeing how bad the weed is and how difficult it is to find spots where you can fish effectively, I remembered how easy it was to find a couple of clear spots in the first peg I fished, I even felt a good ‘donk’ indicating that the lead had landed on a firm clean bottom, were these possible feeding spots? I can’t help but wonder what might have happened had I stayed where I was instead of moving. I know it’s bad angling to arrive at a lake already knowing where you want to fish but looking back those spots were really clean compared to the rest of the lake that I have now seen and I can’t resist going back and having another go in the peg. I scattered some bait over the two spots before I left in preparation for my next visit. I’ve been using my new gas stove for the last 3 weeks and absolutely love it! It’s clean and doesn’t smell, folds down small, it’s easy to use and most importantly quickly boils a kettle of water. The first time I used it I thought that the noisy roar from the flame was quite loud but after a few times using it, it doesn’t sound too bad now.
Since my last update I managed to fish most weekends managing only quick overnight sessions, spending less than 24hours on the bank each visit. With limited day light at this time of year most of my time was spent in the dark! I was relying on information of fish sighting from Ben and Neil who were able to spend more daylight hours on the bank than me. But even then sightings were very few. I spent most of the autumn time fishing two pegs that I thought looked good in the given conditions but couldn’t even manage a bite from one of the lakes many bream even when I tried to catch one! At the end of November we decided to concentrate our efforts on an area of the lake where the most activity had been seen. We each picked a peg around a large corner of the lake and baited what looked like the three points of as triangle. The plan would be to keep bait going in all through the winter and try and keep the fish moving round all the spots. This was working well through December and we all thought that our baited areas felt a little cleaner every visit. Even though no carp were caught we all felt that one wasn’t too far away and that our plan was working. Unfortunately the lake froze over the Christmas period and the weather doesn’t look like warming up for a few weeks yet which has scuppered our plan slightly, as we were all looking forward to fishing right through winter on this difficult water. Hopefully we will be able to get a few more sessions in before the end of the season soon comes around.
My first season on Oakwood has been hard going with only one bream to show for my efforts so far! With only one fishing weekend to go before the end of the season I am not expecting to catch anything before we have an enforced 3 month layoff. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first season on this difficult water even if the long walks to some of the pegs have nearly killed me!
For the majority of this year I have been fishing for one bite at a time, fishing small amounts of bait in holes in the weed and hoping that there is enough attraction to draw any carp in to feed and not to attract the attention of the lakes bream population. With only one fish to show for my efforts using this tactic I decided to change my plan on the last 3 or 4 sessions and introduce some more bait and fish the clearer areas for the lake and try to buy a bite from the one of the bream. I was introducing hemp, pellet, corn and groundbait via the spod and putting out around 2kg of bait in total, not a lot but more than I had been putting in previously. This hasn’t produced a bite yet but I think that has been down to the freezing weather conditions and for my final session on Saturday I will put in another 2kg of bait for my 24 hour session. The last session is going to be a bit of a social with the three of us fishing together for the first time in a couple of months.
I went to the “Carpin On” show at The Five Lakes resort in Essex at the weekend. I had an enjoyable day out and must say thanks to Tom for driving us all down. It was good to see Bob on the Five Star Baits stand and to see some of the new products he has brought out. I came away with a few ideas for my baiting approach for next year which I will be thinking about over the close season. I have also renewed my ECHO membership which I allowed to expire. This is defiantly worth supporting to preserve the future of our carp angling. ECHO Carp.
Ben and Neil had been making regular visits to the lake and had seen a few large carp close to areas of the lake that they were baiting up, they also said that the weed, which caused us untold problems last year, was also starting to grow and was on the surface in places already! It was time for me to get over there and start putting some bait in!
After a very unsuccessful first year with only one bite to show for my efforts I plan to try and change that around and fish for bites this year. So following on from where I finished last season I’m going to do some pre-baiting with plenty of particle and also use this as my main plan for the year. I’ve already made a couple for visits to the lake to pre-bait a peg in an area of the lake when the fish were seen regularly last year. Hopefully some fish will be visiting my spot for a free feed and at the same time clear a bit of weed from the bottom. The bulk of my bait is made up of mixed small seed (pigeon conditioner) and I’ve put some extra hemp in to the mix. A few tiger nuts and some maize were also added for use as hook baits. I’ve also been talking to Bob at five star baits and he has made me some special little one off hookbaits that I can’t wait to get out and use.
With only 4 weeks left till the start of the season I can’t wait to get back and do some fishing, I’ve even booked some time off work so I can fish two night’s mid-week on opening day! I feel a lot more confident about fishing Oakwood this year, and with a good plan in now in place and a shed full of bait things are looking good for the summer.
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