It has been a few years since my last visit to Oakfield Fishery near Aylesbury. Previously there were a couple of match lakes which were rotated to give the best possible fishing. How things have changed. They now have three dedicated match lakes. Brook, Swallow and Red Kite, the latter being new and one I had not seen before let alone fish. It was still under construction then.
Todays match would see Swallow and Red Kite in action with 18 anglers in attendance, including Mick Wright, my travelling partner and myself. I must admit that although I hold a 6-2 lead over Mick in the MK Nugget stakes, the last two times I have had to sit watching him catch plenty of fish whilst I sat struggling.
After a short 3/4hour trip to the venue, we duly paid our pools money and tucked into breakfast whilst waiting for the rest to turn up. It was good to see plenty of old faces again. Draw time soon came round and in goes the hand and out pops peg 23 on Red Kite. Mick follows and is rewarded with peg 18 on Swallow ( a good peg on the point) (he can still draw well). Better still was the fact he was out of sight. A quick chat with Nick Bryan the match organiser and I had a plan for Red Kite.
Fortunately corn had been catching plenty of F1s and odd carp from the lake and this is what would form my main line of attack. I would start at 12m on the deck before switching to top 4 after an hour and having a look down both sides if I was struggling.
Having plumbed up at 12m I found around 4ft with it sloping slightly to my left. Although it was still relatively flattish. I would fish Stinky Corn over balls of fishery micros on this line. I set up a .4g MW Power Diamond on .16 Colmic Stream to a PR36 with a small bulk 18inches from the hook and 2 number 10 Stotz droppers.
Coming onto the top 4 line I had the same depth, but set up an identical rig to the 12m and would loose feed corn regularly over the top and fish Stinky Corn on the hook.
In the margins I had only 18inches by both platforms, my plan here was to fish meat to my left over micros and corn to my right again over micros. I set up two NG Edgers and set both slightly overdepth due to the tow.
At the all in I cupped a pot of pellet and corn onto 12m and another pot to my right hand margin. A pot of pellet with around 20 cubes of meat went to the left hand margin and around a dozen grains of corn were thrown at 5m. Starting off at 12m I had a bite first put in, lightning quick and missed. I then struggled to get a bite, the float was moving too quick in the tow. I added more depth to the rig and although it slowed the float down I was not getting bites quick enough. After 15minutes I connected with my first Red Kite F1 around the pound mark. Another followed soon after. Barry Eddy opposite was catching a few fish by fishing long but everyone else was picking off odd fish. A move to 2+2 saw me catch a 2lb bream first put in followed by a good run of F1s to give me some confidence. After 2 hours I reckoned on around 15lb in the net. I had a quick look down both margins with only a couple of small F1s to show for my efforts so was soon back out to 5m. I found that the fish would back off slightly then come back in so added another section when it went quiet. This would bring me a few more fish. I was not setting the world alight but was enjoying the days fishing. After 4 hours I reckoned on 45lb of mainly F1s with a couple of small 3lb carp mixed in. I decided to fish the margins again during a quiet spell and was rewarded with a nice carp around 6lb on the Stinky Corn. I never had a bite down the edge on meat. I was now putting fish in the net on a regular basis, mainly F1s to 2lb. I found that toss potting after every third fish kept bites coming but the wind was playing havoc with presentation.
At the all out I reckoned on around 70lb, which I was happy with, seeing as it was my first visit to the lake. Barry Eddy (97-09) had caught steadily all day and the far bank was where you needed to be on the day. My 73-08 would beat the anglers on my side of the lake but would fall short. In hindsight I should have fished a heavier rig and lighter elastics down the edge as I had bumped a lot of fish, but a lesson learnt. Mick had also had a good days fishing on Peg 18 on Swallow and I arrived just in time to witness 72-00 fall just short of a MK Nugget, so it is now 7-2 in my favour. Mal Talbot winning from peg 20 with 155lb.
Overall
1st Mal Talbot 154-15 Swallow 20
2nd Steve Nicholls 109-10 Swallow 4
3rd Barry Eddy 97-09 Red Kite 14
4th John Hiron 87-00 Red Kite 18
5th Nick Bryan 86-06 Swallow 11
6th Pete Neal 83-08 Red Kite 10
Both Mick and I enjoyed our day at Oakfield, it made a welcome change and provided us both with a match when unable to fish the Tuesday Opens at Alders Farm.
Finally, I would like to mention that www.bulkfishingbaits.com is back up and running. After illness and restructuring with new management at the helm I hope it goes from strength to strength. They stock plenty of pellets, boilies and both liquid and powder additives all competitively priced with more lines being added weekly. Have a look and place your order.
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