Round 3 Oaktree Snake Lake 3.12.2022

[Leo Martin]

Winter league round 3 OakTree Fisheries Snake Lake 3.12.2022

With the shortest day of the year rapidly approaching and winter temperatures arriving it was time to visit Oaktree fisheries and this time it was the snake lake. Oaktree is a club favourite but with the donut lake only holding 26 pegs we struggle for room so bookings are not made as our club membership numbers have increased. The booking of the snake lake was made with 10 pegs on an 18 peg venue however such is the popularity of our club and this year's winter league in particular it made for a cosy day as we have 16 fishing. Early morning rain with a couple of lovely rainbows for good measure gave way to sunshine and later on a cloudy overcast day before rain on the journey home. Day started at 4 degrees but never got above 7 degrees and the occasional cold blasts of wind made it more chilly at times

A onetime regular I've not been to Oaktree fishery itself since our last match there a few years ago and never fished the snake lake. The fishery has also had a couple of changes of ownership since then and the current owners have transformed the place focusing on the "holiday park" side of the business and there must have been 30 caravans on site with many in occupation. From the entrance road in, "permanent" caravan locations in the field at the side of the road you can see that investments have been made and well received by the number of caravans there. Around the fishery is kept very clean, flower beds, hedges, walks and ideal for people wanting some time in their caravans. The fishery itself remains clean, well looked after and the numbers attending the open match a testament to the owners. Nice to see that all the effort put into the caravan side of their business it shows that the anglers and fishing side of complex has not been forgotten or neglected.

Peg 10 dealt from Jaspers Friday night wheel of doom or fortune which meant nothing as not fished the venue before. Gav to my right, Mr Fox senior to my left.
First issue of the day was A161 shut at Belton so swift rethink and reroute via A18 and Sandtoft 5 lane ends. Arrival, dip nets, purchase some pellets and drive to park behind my peg as did everyone else.
Snake lake approx. 13m wide, reed lined and trees spaced at bank side as well. Margins 2 to 3 feet deep, between 5 and 6 feet deep in track and 3 feet deep across on far side. I also shared an aerator between Dave and myself however this was staked and roped between us both which I guess wouldn't take prisoners if we had hooked an angry fish. Pegging was about 9m apart however with shape of canal it meant conversations could be held down to John Utting, John Lanelly, Kev Indian beyond Gav and Steve Guy the other side of Dave Fox. A chatty and banter day was on the cards to try help combat the cold. I also had a statue of a deer watching over me and from the opposite bank alongside a walk for the residents.

Set up was a line down the track at top 2 + 3, I was doing a margin line, one near aerator and a small feeder to chuck across to the reeds. Ended up with numerous lines and top 2 + 5 to reeds on far side and along reed line and some dying lily pads. Maggots, corn, pellets as baits of choice. Long story short micro perch, small roach, a 6ounce Ide and welcome 1 1/2lb chub were weighed in for 2-14 and that's that. One lost fish, (suspect another chub) that sought and found freedom in the dying lily's.

Dave in the next peg struggled to position his snap box in close vicinity to his seat box. Snap for his day started as he arrived with a large bacon and tomato bread bun smothered in brown sauce to such an extend it squirted on his clothing. This to be followed during the day by 2 bread buns with seedless raspberry conserve, (jam to you and me), 6 doubled up cream crackers and raspberry conserve, bag of popcorn, salt and vinegar crisps, chocolate biscuit and I'm sure there was many more items devoured during the match. Dave struggled through the match for bites and fish and the sunshine in our faces did not help when fishing across to the far bank.

Gav to my right after a run of micro perch did manage a couple of ide, chub and a skimmer to help his weight. One unexpected wrap round bite on his feeder close the end of the match, fish engaged but lost didn't help his day.

Indian fishing tight across did manage to string some fish together and helped him to 18lb and a section win. Everyone was sure he had about 25lb but I guess that is down to the Ide weight being deceiving as usual.  Well done Kevin, another sterling performance.

John Lanelly also caught across the lake but lost one or two along the way.

John Utting, (venue expert) surprised us all with his swift exit off his Seat box as cramp in his leg set in. Leaping off his box at such a speed he ended up laid out on the floor. All anglers around showed the usual Big Bash concern with My Lanelly saying it could have been much worse, it might have been his leg. John  who had had a couple of practise sessions matched John Uttings weight with 6-14 so nowhere near his previous weeks weights showing the effects of weather and numbers around the lake.
We did have a welcome visit from a kingfisher. First spotted perched on Dave Fox's pole it flew down to our right and landed on someone else's. It then reappeared opposite Steve Guy eying up his swim and then dived in and caught a fish that was proving elusive to Steve.

Massive well done to bagger Sam who has taken the crown again with a match wining 26-5 from peg 5.
Section winners Paul Whitehouse peg 1 with 18-12, Steve Jackson peg 7 14-6 and Indian peg 13 18-0
Second in sections Steve Curtis peg 2 8-15, Steve Guy peg 8 7-12 and Jasper peg 17 12-4.

Well done to the other 9 anglers who stuck it out and tried and tried again but it was one of those Big Bash days which we continue to experience and grow to love. Fish moaning is rapidly becoming a common skill of late and dealt with such expertise amongst our membership.

As a club we are in the enviable positon of having a very strong winter league membership and attendance on our matches. Almost double the attendance of last year's matches which may have been an influence on today or may not have been, after all its winter and the fish sometimes don't feed. One thing that is great is the warmth and friendship of the club and its members to keep us all entertained when the fish don't want to play.

Next match is the final one of the year, our fur and feather match at Lindholme on Willows December 17th to play with F1's hopefully.  Xmas hats, carol singing and all the fun of the fair welcome. Looking ahead at the forecast it's going to be another cold one so maybe leave the sun cream at home again. 6 confirmations to pay on, and also room if any others want to join the party. All we ask you pay on before your leccy bill arrives and turn up with a smile.
Massive thanks to Jasper for his organisation, Steve for weighing in and Glen tooting his whistle.

We go again on the winter league in the new year or 2023, January 7th Osprey at Messingham Grange. 

[fishfinder]

Peg 2 for me and a quick chat with a regular said it would be hard especially with peg 1 and a spare peg on 6.So it proved with all section winner coming next to a spare peg.Started across had a few early small perch and an odd ide was very slow Paul on peg 1 caught steadily whilst myself,Glen and Robson struggled to get a bite after first hour.rotating lines all day picked an odd fish up but very hard work,finished with 8lb 15oz which gave me a 3rd in section which  I could not have done any better with Sam and Paul catching way more fish then the middle 3 in section but thats winter fishing and it felt like winter as well..

[steve]

Its a good job there's "more to fishing than catching fish". Enjoyable day thanks to all concerned 😁

[jasper31]

Peg 17 - was happy with that as we have been told it's an area that holds carp and barbel

12m across to reeds and after careful plumbing found a little area that was clear of any debris and a little firmer that other spots. Started negatively as had an inkling it was going to be hard after watching netting videos and cold weather. Small cad pot of maggots and double on hook - Mark in 16 started good with a couple of fish but i was having to wait longer for bites - but they did come was catching odd roach and ide. Adam on end peg was having fun getting stuck in the reeds and everywhere he seemed to try fish he hooked and obstacle. After a while i hit a carp and played it all the way in on .08 line and size 20 hook only for it to roll at the net and shoot off with a bit of end tackle.....bugger!!

After a while i got thirsty and decided to have a coffee, a 15g scoop feeder was under armed to my left against the reeds and poured myself a drink, as i out the cup down rod bent round and as i was in shock dropped my coffee in my maggots and battle with a barbel. I did manage to land it but then had coffee flavoured maggots for rest of the match. a few more casts and nothing on rod went back on the jam role....carried on getting a few but small and less frequent.

With 45 minutes to go and bites had dried up - next plan! Finely chopped a few worms and a bit of ground bait i started introducing very small nuggets through the pot, seemed to spur a few more fish to grab a maggot and just on the whistle i hit another decent fish that shot off and was coming in slowly but with a nod and surge another fish went on its merry way with a F1 maggot hook stuck in its lip.... :-[ :-[

Got to say i like the look of the place and when i booked all winter venues i only book 10 pegs as thats our normal attendance, but this year we have got more crazy people wanting to fish in freezing conditions than ever, but love it...a venue that is charging premium pegging fee needs to get the fish stocks better, stop skimping on electro fishing and get someone in that knows what they are doing - remove the big ones and leave it as a silver fish venue if that what the intention is. Having to fish so light to catch silvers then to get smashed every time you hit a decent fish is no good for fish welfare - especially with so many reeds where line, shot and hooks get tangled up which could result in snagging fish.

Results sheet attached

[fishfinder]

I think it would have been a venue for the 10 pegs you booked but for more than that it was not good,and it showed with results when all with a spare peg did ok and won sections.its good to see 16 members in a winter league though its good to turn out in miserable conditions and at least have a proper match.

[Adamnewton96]

Peg 18 for me at a bleak oak tree fishery. Jasper for company, pretty simple attack for me. 4 rigs to for 11m across one with a 4x12 mn roach with a staggered bulk on 0.14 to fish through the water, and a bulk and two dropper rig in a .4 mn roach for if the fish were having it on the deck, exactly the same rigs for top 2+2. On the whistle I loose potted 2 big cups of ground bait I chose to feed it loose due to it being quite silty across. And started throwing maggots short on my top 2+2 line. Once my ground bait was potted it I picked up my staggered bulk rig up and fired a few maggots across with my catty. After a good 3-4 minutes the float buried and a lovely 1lb chub was landed. After that I kept getting snagged where ever I seemed to fish. I had 2 more ide at a pound and a few bits to put a miserable 3lb 15 oz on the scales. Great banter as always just a shame about the fishing, on to the next one looking forward to lindholme on willows for the fur and feather hopefully we will all be having some winter f1 bashing. Thanks to Leo, Jasper, and Steve Curtis for all the endless effort you put in to this club to make it what it is. 16 lads all fishing in a winter league says a lot. Looking forward for a mince pie and a sit on big glens knee after.

[Indian]

Like the snake lake but not the big lake like jasper said take the carp and barbel out stock more ide chub bream and f1s.new it would be hard so set 3 rigs up .12 with spread shot 18 to 011in 3ft about a foot from far bank in a gap in reeds fed and fished maggot double and single  about 20 mags in pot every put in  caught all fis on this rig perch ide roach barbel tench fished 0.14 down track over gbait not a bite tried deep shallow rig o.10 about 2ft of bottom with strung out shot no bites in hindsight should not have tried come of far bank to try other areas as fish became hard to find when i went back over but thought resting it would help had to keep moving shot around caught best with bulk and 2droppers