I've fished Oak once before on a Sunday afternoon pleasure session last year and had a few but not mega, so i used a few contacts to gather some more info. As with all the pools at Cob pellet was to be my main attack, but i now also knew that the fish were hard to pin down in one position because of the depth and the very silty bottom of Oak pool.
so the attack was going to be a couple of long pole lines for the pellet, a couple of shorter pole lines for some paste then whatever margins looked nice.
After sorting myself out with a very nice sandwich i got the fishery in plenty of time (in fact loads of time because the draw was at 10 and not the 9am i had assumed). so with plenty of time in hand, Scott took me up to the hatchery for another look round to see what was in stock. i'd visited 2 weeks prior and the hot tanks were full of fry, around 10-15mm long. well they were now triple the size and looking absolutely stunning. lots of ghost and koi carp! they also had loads of tench, golden tench and rudd in the holding tanks ready for delivery! tens and tens of thousands of fish in all!! it really i interesting the amount of effort and hard work that goes into the hatchery side of Cob House.
Anyway we eventually got round ot the draw, and with just 5 people in the match we had loads of room and a lovely day on the cards! peg 5 stuck to my hand, which is on the laughenre island bank and next to the aerator.
i had plenty of room, with 3 pegs spare either side. The aerator rope prevented me having a left hand margin line, but i had plenty of room to the right, but marginal vegetation would limit how far along i could fish.
I set plenty of rigs up to cover my chosen attack: -
1 - 0.25g SP slim pencil 1.5mm tip, 0.15 Ultima Power Silk mainline to 0.14 Power Silk hooklength, 16 B911 shotted with No.11 stotz so i could spread or bulk as necessary (light pellet)
2 - 0.3 SP fat pencil 2mm tip, 0.18 G line to an 0.16 G line hooklength, 14 B911 shotted with number 8 stotz for a positive bulk (heavy pellet)
3 - Self cocking pea float (not sure which make, got em off flea bay) 0.18 G line to a 0.16 G line hooklength with a 16 B911 set at 1 foot deep (shallow)
4 - KC Carpa Paste, 4x12, 0.18 G Line to 0.18 G line hooklength, 12 B911 with 3 number 8 spread over the line to keep the rig straight whe n the paste is in the pole pot during shipping (short Paste)
5 - 0.1 SP margin 2mm tip, 0.18 Gline to 0.16 gline hooklength with a 14 B911. Shotted with a few number 11 stotz
The weather had really turned out very nicely all week with high teens degree C during the day, but a light frost most mornings so i wasnt 100% sure how much to give them at the start. i ended up on the side of caution and gave them less that a 1/4 pot of soaked 3mm feed pellets on each long line, 1/2 pot of 4mm feed pellets and a couple of blobs of paste on the short line, and a half pot of 3mm feed on the single margin line i had plumbed up.
it didnt take long to get signs on the long pellet lines, but i was easily the last person to catch a fish out of the 5 of us. i was getting bites off both long lines, but the right hand line was quicker. i disciplined myself to only take 1 fish from each line as i wanted them to last. after each fish the line would get a small CAD pot of feed and i'd fish the alternate line. it was working well, and regular fish were coming to the net, but it definately wasnt hectic!
it was also a little strange as my left hand line produced only common carp and the right hand line produced only mirror carp!! there was an inch difference in depth between them, and the rig was dead depth to the right, and slightly over to the left so that might be the reason!
After an hour i had 8-9 fish in the net and boy-o-boy they fight hard in that pool. last week on Laugherne i was using the doubled middy 6-8 latex kits and landing 4-6lb fish with ease, but now on the same setup i was struggling to land 2lbers!! they really were awake! but on the flip side i was getting everything in the net. the bites were coming with a Cob House 4mm expander on the hook as i couldnt get a bite on a 6mm.
i'd been dripping feed onto the short line regularly, so fancied giving it a go to rest the longer lines and managed 4 paste fish quite quickly which included a nice 4lber. i also tried the margin while i was short but didnt get a bite.
Pegs 9 and 11 had loads of room in the margin with one side of the pool to themsleves and they were making the margin line work, but i wasnt too worried as they werent accelerating away just yet.
aftet the stint short i went back out long and found the left hand line very quiet. i was still making myself swap lines but it was taking a long time to get a bite. i started a third line long further to the right and left it for 20 minutes to settle. first chuck on there and i did have a bite but missed it. this line was as slow as the left hand line. the now middle line, was by far the strongest, but i didnt want to ruin it, so would catch a couple of fish long then come short for a couple of paste fish. this worked quite well for a while and saw me through the middle part of the match. with 2 hours to go i was quite happy putting a few fish in the net and enjoying myself, but knew i was behind the 2 guys on 9 and 11 and needed to do something.
the aerator was at 14.5 meters and i'd seen fish moving round it all day so i added a section and put 1/4 of a pot by it. as the left hand long line wasnt producing i'd left it for an hour with nothing going in on it, but decided to see of anything was there, an instant bite told me the long rest had done it good, and in half an hour put 5 fish in the net between it and the middle long line.
90 minutes to go and i gave the aerator line a try and it was solid!!! i finished off the match on this line with the heavy pellet rig, with it was banging under every chuck with some quality fish to 4lb. i did lose a couple as i was in bagging mode and lost 1 silly one under my own landing net. it managed to transfer the hook from its lip to the net, how it done is a complete mystery unless carp carry disgorgers around with them nowadays!!!
The whistle went and i was pretty pleased overall, i think i put around 35lb in the net over the last hour and thought i'd done well overall. the scales came round and my two nets went to 104lb. i genuinely didnt think i had that much at all, and was pleased to break the ton (first time this year i think).
peg 9 next to me put 80lb odd on the scales then peg 11 put 111lb on to beat me! i was a bit gutted because i'd worked hard all day rotating lines and then exploiting the long line in the last 90minutes, but it wasnt quite enough! second will do on this occasion!!
Cob House is really waking up now and the weights will ramp up considerably, so looking forward to the bank holiday Monday match on there this week. With Oak, Laugherne and Wyatts in i dont care where i draw as all the pegs are full of fish!
Tight lines, catch you all next time!
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