Old Mill Lakes Lincolnshire - Oak Lake (Aug 2020)

Had the unusual privilege of getting away for a weeks' fishing in the UK and also the opportunity to meet up with my good fishing buddies Damo, Mikel and Chiz for some "carp and japes".

Lincolnshire was the location - close to Mikel and Chiz, it was mine and Damo's turn to travel 'up norf' and Old Mill Lakes, renown for some big fish in Birch and Willow Lake but we were fishing the fairly new water 'Oak' lake of around 8 acres I would guess and featuring around 40 fish over the 30lb mark, 100+ 20s and the rest mostly doubles.

The lake is basically a big square in shape with 7 pegs running across two opposite banks (north and south banks).  There's plenty of water to go out and your in no danger of getting in a mess with the chap opposite as he's so far away.  Casting to the middle is doable with your best chuck but to be honest you don't need to be fishing out that far.

I managed to bank myself a corner peg in the north-west corner with Mikel in the next peg along to my left.  Chiz got the corner peg in the north-east corner and Damo in next to him.

Tactics at Oak Lake

Being in the corner swim I had a lot of margin spots to go at, that was obvious.  To be honest once I'd selected those spots I didn't change them all week.  I had my left hand rod literally in the corner, about half a rod length off the bank next to some reeds.  The middle rod I walked about 60-70 yards down the bank, dropping it in about a rod length out and then walked in back.  I did this with the bait boat initially but found it wasn't an issue walking it down.  Both of these rods I consistently baited up with around half a kilo of CCMoore Pacific Tuna soaked in Chorizo extract mixed with mixed pellet, each time I put it out.

My third rod on the left I decided I was going to cast to showing fish.  Throughout the week this ranged between 15 - 40 yards out, I ended up scatter-baiting the whole area.

The Result?

Pretty good for me actually, catching steadily throughout the week I managed 12 carp, losing just 2, including a new UK pb mirror of 34lb (rumour has it it's the biggest in the lake), 2 lows 20s and the rest doubles.  Mikel managed a new pb common of 32lb 13oz amongst his fish.  Chiz had a stunning 32lb 12 mirror in his haul and Damo caught a number of high doubles and finally broke the 20lb barrier towards the end of the week.

Here's a few snaps:











Location: Usselby, Market Rasen LN8 3YJ, UK

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