This summary of the highlights from last year is your quickest way to find out about carp fishing at Oakview. Find out when the hits come, what size carp you are likely to catch and the latest stats on your chances of catching them.
You can also use this article to go straight to the videos you want to watch without having to search these pages. See the best tips, the bagging-up tactics, the runs and the records. It’s your latest and best guide to carp fishing here in 2013.
January saw a small but strategic stocking:
In February we released the first of the year’s videos on tactics. 3 Oakview regulars show how they bag up from 3 different sides of the lake. You’ll find two more tactics videos for the 4th bank later in this article but this is the one to watch for general tactics at Oakview:
The first week in March saw the first anglers of the season. They got straight on the fish and we got a video of a brilliant carp fishing tip. In fact, as 2012 was the wettest year on record, this turned out to be the simplest and best carp fishing tip of the year:
April brought with it a great catch, which included a 40 and 5 x 30s. The guys’ approach was to keep the lodge swims quiet and fish back towards these areas from further up the lake. The tactics paid off when the first 40 pounder of the year came from 3 yards in front of the right-hand lodge swim. You can see the catch here:
May’s highlight came mid-month, when the 6 x 30s out that week took the average catch weight up to 29lbs.
In June, an angler smashes his PB with a 38lb common and then predicts a big hit in the bowl the following week. The next week, the bowl produces 20 carp to over 40lbs. You can see the anglers and and their story here:
In July an unusual approach and set-up saw 20 carp to 38lb taken in short day sessions at the back of the island. A brilliant demonstration of the set-up and great run sequences has made this video a must-see and our most popular carp video in 2012.
The video is called ‘How to catch carp in France – slack lines and running rigs’ and it’s the first of a series we will be releasing. If you are not amongst the thousands who have already watched it, you can go straight to it here:
In August great catches add to the long list of records already smashed during the year. Another angler takes 20 fish to over 40lb and later in the month, the biggest fish of the year comes out at 42lb 7oz.
During September an Oakview regular has another storming session at his favourite lodge swim, bagging 19 carp, including 8 x 30s and the biggest common of the year at 39lb 10oz. Average catch size for this week was 29lb 12oz.
In October we released Part 2 of our popular series on How to catch carp in France. This time it’s tight lines and shocker rigs. The same swim and the same weather conditions as Part 1, but a different angler with a different approach.
Between them the two anglers chalked up 40 carp, topped by a 42lb mirror and a 38lb common. This 2nd video shows a fascinating blow-by-blow comparison of two very different set-ups and compares the results. You can go straight to Part 2 here:
In December this fantastic year at Oakview was rounded off by the launch of our updated venue video. Take a look round the lake, see inside the accommodation, watch the fishing and hear what the anglers have to say:
End of year catch stats
Thanks to anglers sharing their knowledge on video, it’s now easier than ever to discover lots of detail about the fish and the tactics at Oakview.
But it’s no good just looking at a few of the highlights to find out what sort of fish you can expect to catch. To answer that fairly we’ve taken the catch reports from every angler for the whole year and averaged them out. Here are the results:
On average, a 30lb (or 40lb) carp was landed every 5 runs and one run in 10 resulted in a carp between 16lb and 20lbs. So 9 runs in every 10 is a carp bigger than 20lb.
So there you have it… pre-season, this is your best guide to carp fishing at Oakview in 2013.
