61lb Common from Old Oaks

As a  party of four we have just returned from Old Oaks. On arrival we were met by Mehdi, who we found to be very polite and helpful.  He gave us info. on the lake and a tour of the facilities, which are more than adequate – shower, washing facilities, electric power points and a bbq area in which to cook – who needs more for a bivvy only lake? Mehdi then just left us to it for the week.

By the Sunday we had all had fish up to 45lb.  Some of the fish came from the far bank which is only a small chuck but requires careful casting as close as you dare to the over hanging bushes.

We had left peg 5 empty & I reckon this resulted in me personally having a fishing session I may never experience again.

As I was fishing peg 4, I did a bit of plumming in peg 5. I quickly found an area I was happy with and within easy reach from my peg – maybe 25ft out from the bank at peg 5 and maybe 30ft from the left hand bank.

After marking up I decided to put just one rod in this spot and introduced a bit of bait.  Within 40 minutes  or so I was pulling a fish in which went 39lb 5oz. This continued to happen, as I kept the bait trickling in with a boilie only approach and by Wednesday morning the two pegs had produced 17 fish!

It was on that Wednesday morning that I hit into a fish and after playing it for some time it was obvious to me that it was a very big fish indeed.  Getting it to the net only confirmed this – it was one of the larger fish in the lake, a beautiful looking common

On the scales it went 61lb 4oz!

A new PB for me and one that will probably stay in place for a long time to come… but then again there is next yr in France!

Wednesday afternoon I swapped swims with another member of our party and he continued to fish the the same areas and had another 11 fish, the biggest being 46lb 2oz.

I would say most of these fish came from the area in mid-water so if you do fish this lake don’t ignore the open water as on this occasion for us not all the fish seemed to come from the far margins.

Over the week we all had new PB’s and our final tally of fish was;

*  61lb 4oz

*  16 x 40’s

*  19 x 30’s

*  4 x 20’s

*  1 x grass carp @ 31lb 5 oz

*  and one of the the catfish which Mehdi estimates was around 65lb.

Needless to say we are four very pleased anglers!

Mike Devereaux, September 2012

Carp France at Old Oaks