Questions and Answers at Golden Oak

Paul Cooper was recently contacted with a few questions posed by an angler heading out to Golden Oak, a 5 acre lake with an impressive lake record of over 63lb. A must read if you’re heading out to the venue this year… 

Hi Paul,

I’m fishing Golden Oak fishery in France in June through Angling Lines. I’ve read your blog on the lake, good read. I’m after some advice mate if possible. 

It’s just me and the wife going so I’ve got the lake to myself… bliss. Over the years I’ve never really been one to change my bait, I’ve only ever used Quality Baits patshull park and Mainline cell.

After reading your blogs I am tempted to make a change. I only live 10 mins from quality baits, you never know. I just fed my koi the last of my cell. They love it. They take 18mm on the drop, if only it was that easy!

If you went Golden Oak again, what would your approach be and would you change anything from last time? Hopefully they will have spawned by then and want a bit of grub.

The bottom sounds like an egg box, is it severe slopes/bars? Will it cut me off? etc. I could sit and write a hundred questions but I’ll not take the mick.

Thanks for reading.
Mick

Hi Mick

A 39lb 10oz typical of Golden Oak

I visited Golden Oak in its infancy as a carp lake back in 2010, and it was as a result of my recommendations that the owners took immediate action in netting the lake. During the netting they removed lots of silver fish and small commons leaving only the good sized carp in the lake. Additional stocking took place too and as a result there are now some excellent sized fish swimming in Golden oaks.

Bait

At the time I fished Golden Oaks I was a bait consultant for Shaun Harrison of Quest Baits, but as you may be aware I am now a bait consultant for Quality Baits. The Patshull Park squid and orange is an excellent bait. I now use the Quality Baits HG range that Jim Kelly and myself put together and I have full confidence in them. I always use a bait that I have full confidence in. If yours is in Cell or Patshull, take that.

The Lake Bed

In front of the house, the lake bed was similar to a wave pattern dropping then rising again every few yards, so once that I found an area to fish it was a matter of marking everything up accurately. If I remember correctly I created my bed of bait around 60 yards in the middle of the lake. The lake bed was soft silt and with no sharp shelves to cut off your lines so there is no need for leaders etc.

The house swim

The dam margins to the right of the house swim are deep with overhanging trees. This is a very good area to present a bait. The far margins also have lots of overhanging trees where the carp seem to patrol. There is a shelf off these margins which extends into the lake for around 5 meters and at the base of this shelf is a hard gravelled area which is an excellent place to present a bait. This is a good cast, but is reached easily with a bait boat or the rowing boat provided.

The house swim is the deepest part of the lake, however there are also some very good swims lower down the lake towards the shallows. I would imagine that when the weather warms up the fish will congregate in the shallows during the day and back to the depths at night.

I would take a pair of waders for landing fish as I found that I did need to get in the water to lift the fish onto the bank. The banks are flat and fully grassed, like a lawn so bivying up is easy.

Would I change anything from my last visit

Well I visited during a cold spell in August of 2010, just following on from a reasonably warm month, so fishing was difficult and it did take me a few days to get them feeding. Day time temperatures were down to single figures and nights were even colder but I still managed a few fish.

On the day of your arrival, speak to Dick, he should know how his fish are behaving. Watch the water, the fish do show themselves giving clues to their patrol routes. Once that you have settled on a swim, concentrate your baiting campaign to small area of the lake and get 2 or more rods on this area. Once your feeding table starts to produce, bring the other rod onto the outskirts of the baited area. If you read my blogs and articles you can see that I generally take this approach and usually catch well.

Now for the accommodation

The gite accommodation overlooks the lake

I can honestly say that this is by far, the best fishing gite that I have ever stayed at and Dick and Joe are excellent hosts. Don’t worry if you forget any fishing tackle, Dick has bivvies, rods, reels, mats the lot plus end tackle.

There are some lovely French villages within a short drive, so your wife should love the area. It is a long drive, but fully worth it.

Hope that helps. Anything else, just drop me another email.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Appreciate it.

I’ve never done it before, but I’m considering taking two different baits with me to mix it up a bit… not sure yet. I’ve had some great fishing on the Patshull over the years and only tried cell after I got a load cheap due to a cancelled trip. Done ok on it in France last year, but was very hot and hard fishing.

Do you find the HG an instant bait on waters you’ve used it on?

I generally take 2 different baits with me and also have different sized boilies, 16mils and 18mils. 

I am testing a 42 acre lake (Castle Lake) for Angling Lines at the end of this month and I already have picked up my fresh supply of HG47 and HG All Seasons.

The All seasons contains no fishmeal and the 47 has a savory flavour on a fishmeal base. I have always found that the HG47 works well early in the year and the All seasons has not let me down yet.

If I was you I would take 16 mils and 18 mils in the Patshull park Squid  and orange as my main boilie (because you have confidence in the bait) and maybe a few kilo of the HG42.

During my first involvement with Quality Baits, Jim and Myself put together the first HG42, and the make up of the bait has not changed. You only have to look on the Quality Baits blog to see the results that I had. It was instant and very productive.

The only reason that I have deviated away from HG42 is to develop other boilies for Simon, and I must say that I have found that due to the high quality of his ingredients and freshness of the bait, everything that I have put together has been an instant success.

Just Krill for example, Simon knocked me up a few kilo’s last summer and I caught carp from 2 different lakes in only a few days, both reasonably difficult waters.

One thing that I did not mention before is that I have read that some customers have experienced problems with crayfish in the past on Golden Oaks, so be prepared to mesh up hook baits and to take plastic boilies with you just in case.

Do not hesitate to get back to me if you have anymore questions. I am sure that your wife and yourself will love the place. 

Best of luck
Paul
paulcooper18@sky.com