Carp Fishing in France Articles | Oakwood Fisheries

Lots Of Rain Calls For Covered Seated Area!

Oakwood Fisheries — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:14:43 +0000

This year with have received abnormal rainfall like in England and it has been playing havoc with meal times at Oakwood Fisheries!

We have a large seated area already at Oakwood where our quests enjoy their evening meals but this year just as we are about to serve dinner it always seems to rain so a covered seating area was the order from the wife!

A break in the weather allowed time for me to construct a covered area next to the anglers cabin with the aid of my two friends.

Now rain or shine you can enjoy your meals with lakeside views.

The post Lots Of Rain Calls For Covered Seated Area! first appeared on Oakwood Fisheries.

Birthday Bonanza!

Oakwood Fisheries — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:28:50 +0000

It was my fourteenth birthday and I had been a keen pike since the age of 7. I didn’t really know about carp until Dan moved in next door and started work on his lake. I was very interested in what he was doing and we soon became friends speaking Franglais to each other which is basically some words in English and some in French!

I soon saw Dan catch a big carp while I was pike fishing on his lake and I was instantly captivated. I had never seen anything that big! The next year was spent learning all I could from Dan I was constantly asking him questions I must have drove him mad. I float fished a few times at Oakwood fisheries and generally kept losing them. I managed to bank one of 31lbs and was over the moon but as Dan kept saying to me the carp were too big for me with my limited experience. Dan suggested that I fish a local lake with mainly small carp up to about 15lbs.

A 14 year old with a thirty

I guess he had me serving an apprenticeship I thought as I trundled off every weekend to try and put everything in practice that he had been telling me. I caught many carp over the summer and was learning fast. I fished a couple of times with Dan that year and was amazed how many carp he caught, he always says he’s been doing it a long time but he is a carp catching machine as anybody who fishes with him will find out.

That brings me to today, Dan kindly asked if I would like to fish with him one evening as it was my birthday, I snapped his hand off as though I was a greedy pike and today was the day!

We started making boilies in the afternoon and as the time past I was getting impatient as I was on the rolling table and Dan was mixing up the ingredients and supply me with sausages out of the bait gun, he kept on saying “don’t worry we will get one this evening” I hoped so!

At 7 pm we walked our rods round and Dan let me pick my swim and he would fish next door to me. I quickly cast out 2 rods but the third was a tricky cast and I asked Dan if he could cast for me as I was really disturbing the swim. By now I had convinced myself that I had made so much noise that I would not catch anything. Dan cast the rod out and explained it would be fine, I didn’t believe him because I had cast out about 20 times!

A 14 year old with a thirty

Dan positioned his one rod and was float fishing with another for his favourites species the tench! I was sitting with him not expecting any action as we were only going to be fishing for 4 hours up to 11pm when my right hand rod screamed off! The fish felt powerful and it was difficult to stop as it went on run after run. As I and the carp tired Dan laid the net in the water and finally scooped the carp up. I couldn’t believe it I had caught one! Also it was on one of the rods I had cast and it was big!

The carp was unhooked and weighed it turn’t the scales to just over 30lbs… I was chuffed! I made another PVA bag and cast back out into the weed bed. I sat back down and watched Dan catch a tench of around 4 lbs and then beeeeeepppppp!!! As I ran to my rod it was ripped from my rod pod with the sheer force of the take. I was into another hard fighting carp! Furious action followed as my 2lb test curve rods were pushed to the limit but finally another beautiful mirror lay on the mat in front of me. Not as big as the first but at 26lbs I was delighted with my brace especially as I then teased Dan that I had caught 2 in an hour and he was yet to catch!

Me with a beautiful linear

True to form he did bank one an hour later a stunning linear of 23lbs and I lost another after the hook pulled out but I will always remember this birthday as the best present I have ever had!

By Alex Lorient
The post Birthday Bonanza! first appeared on Oakwood Fisheries.

Swim 4 Triple Take…. 3 x 30’s

Oakwood Fisheries — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:20:58 +0000

We were spring cleaning the cabin and putting the final touches together when our first guest’s for the season arrived namely Samantha Collins Ratcliffe a tf gear consultant and her husband Scott. The weather had remained constantly hot to my amazement over the last 3 weeks so I thought there was a good chance of putting some nice fish on the bank, as there had been no frosts for over a month and day time temperatures had been soaring to nearly 30 Celsius.

Indeed the fish had been crashing all over the lake especially on the plateaux prior to Scott and Sams arrival. It was like being at Windsor safari park again watching the dolphins jump as I did as a boy, only with carp, as I worked away preparing the swims.

Scott and Sam opted to fish swims 5 + 6 respectively following our inspection of the lake. I opted to test fish swim 4 as it had newly been constructed and never fished. It consists of a large over hanging tree with plenty of surrounding lily pads, gravel margins, silt patches, weed beds and hard clay spots with a depth of one meter in the margins and an average depth in the swim of 2 meters. It a real carp anglers dream with so many carpy looking spots. The rods were positioned and I baited quiet heavily with my own frozen bait which I roll on site.

As I sat back listening to the birds singing in the tree tops one of my rods began bouncing on the pod and the high pitched scream signalled a fish. I had only been fishing for just over an hour, what a start I thought.

After a spirited fight I put the net under a good looking mirror of 25 lbs she was slipped quickly back and shortly after another followed this time a common of 22 lbs. Not bad for 2 hours fishing the next day I planned to do the night!

Great weather greeted me again when I woke, unfortunately work was on the agenda for the day but in the evening I could get the rods out for the night I couldn’t wait!

The rods finally went out by 7 pm again good beds of boilies were put out, one rod I was fishing in deep silt, one in the far margin on a gravel spot and one in a small gap in the weed bed. This was to be a truly memorable evening for me.

The action started after only 45 minutes the far margin rod was away as I bent into a good carp a smile light up my face. I quickly moved her away from the danger of the far lily pads and into open water where I safely playing her under the rod tip when I heard my other half walking down the steps ”got one she said” “Yep” I replied “almost ready for the net and it’s not bad either”

Swim 4 triple take....
Just as I was getting ready to net the fish my second rod screamed off. I looked at Cheryl “grab that rod babe” as she picked the rod up and tried to hang on I quickly netted the first carp and took the second rod. Luckily the fish came back through the lily pads easily but again I knew I was connected to a good fish as I could feel it wallowing, an instant sign in my experience . I said to Cheryl to go and ask Scott and Sam for a net as I already had one carp still in the water in mine. They returned 10 minutes later by which time I had the carp beat after it had abused my arm a few times.

Sam slipped the net under the mirror which I could see was a thirty instantly. On the mat he went and as I slipped the hook out beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppppp, I can’t believe it 3rd rod away, this one is a real charger not happy at all to be seeing my side of the bank. Sam slipped the 2nd carp back in a sling as the carp had not been weighed or photographed yet and I commenced battle with a very powerful common carp. My right arm was feeling the worse for wear by now but I didn’t care… a hat-trick! I had never done this before in 20 years of carp fishing, I’ve had two on at the same time on a couple of occasions but never three!

Swim 4 triple take....
Again Sam netted the common, we weighed and photographed this one first 25lbs of pure fighting muscle what a beautiful fish we all agreed. Next up came the one in the sling that I had a brief look at while unhooking it originally, a stunning big framed mirror and my first thirty of the year at almost 34lbs. I was chuffed and still one more fish to sort out and I haven’t seen this one yet!!

It turned out to be a scatter scale mirror again in pristine condition weighing in at 28 lbs 8 oz to complete the trio.

The rest of the night proved just as hectic taking 7 fish in total for 13 hours fishing. These ranged from 20 -34 lbs.

I fished a couple more evenings when Scott and Sam was here, just for 3 hours each session and added another 5 fish to my tally including another two 30’s. In total I fished for 23 hours and had 14 fish including 3 30’s with an average weight coming out at 26.…………

Truly a session to remember!
The post Swim 4 Triple Take…. 3 x 30’s first appeared on Oakwood Fisheries.

Our trip to Oakwood

Oakwood Fisheries — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:03:08 +0000

A typical English estate lake located in Brittany just south of Rennes, Oakwood Lake is a picturesque mature venue to fish. With an easy drive from the ferry port through the French countryside you could be there and have your rods out in a matter of hours.

Oakwood is a five acre mature tree lined lake originally created over 150 years ago for the local chateau. It is set in the grounds of the woods and offers plenty of character with a great selection of wildlife to be seen. The lake has an interesting shape to it, providing numerous features and areas to fish to.

The lake has an average depth of six feet and plenty of features to locate. The bottom consists mainly of hard silt with large gravel beds and clear spots to be found. There are two islands in the lake with many channels through both of them. There are many overhanging trees and maintained beds of lily pads providing feeding spots for even the most wary of carp. Float fishing is a must on this lake we couldn’t resist giving it a go after seeing the fish rolling in the pads.

Upon arrival at the lake we were met by the Dan, the owner of the lake, and showed around. He knew the lake well and was keen to offer us hints and tips which are well worth listening to especially as he fishes the lake himself. Within a short space of time we had chosen our swims and were eager to get our rods out into the lake. The car park is close to the lake making it easy to get gear to any of the swims; in a short space of time without too much effort.

In no time at all we were all set up and ready to get the rods in the water. It was a well thought about decision as to which features to bait up in the lake and which areas to fish to from the start. We started off near the car park facing the smaller of the two islands with numerous pads to fish to and a long gravel bar to bait up under a large over hanging tree. It was only a matter of hours, just as evening was approaching, that the first of the rods bleeped and we were into our first fish. Unfortunately we lost it in the pads and used it as a learning curve, meaning we were always on our rods after that and knew where to play the fish. Following that a couple of hours later our first fish was in the net, looking previously uncaught, making us desperate to see what else this lake had to offer us. Over the next couple of days we kept to the same areas and enjoyed landing numerous other carp up to 25lb with an equal amount of commons and mirrors caught.

The lake seemed to then quieten down and the bleeps were becoming further apart, making us feel that our best option was to move to another location on the lake and aim for some un-expecting carp. The middle of the lake between the two islands becomes narrower and is lined with over hanging branches. There is a more secluded area of the lake with where any angler would enjoy bivvying up. For the rest of the week this seemed the perfect location and on average the larger of the carp seemed to be coming out with weights now hitting the 30lb mark. This is the type of lake where you should be prepared to move and locate the fish. Each swim has been carefully set up in order for the anglers to each have space and features of their own.

Over the week we found the most productive bait to be dans secret boilie which was a very highgrade fishmeal which we fished on its own or as snowman set up. We found that chopped up boillies worked well with heavily baiting areas.

The newly built toilet and shower block is a feature we wish all lakes had, especially after enjoying the hydrostatic shower. There are electric points available for charging equipment and freezer space for bait. The option to have meals cooked for you onsite is a definite must for those that would rather just get on and fish. There is also a local town just 5 minutes down the road with supermarkets, bars, shops and restaurants, making the ideal place to get out and about for a couple of hours during the week.

Oakwood Lake is perfect for getting away from everything, a place to enjoy catching carp and taking in the surroundings.

Scott and Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe Rig Morole Field Testers
The post Our trip to Oakwood first appeared on Oakwood Fisheries.