Venue Small weedy pool, Oxfordshire
The fish King of the Pond, 36lb, a new PB
Bait The Swarm, Eruption Mix, Pineapple BP pop-up
Through Winter Into Spring
This story started in April 2025, when I was offered a ticket on a small, weedy, beautiful, intimate pool in Oxfordshire. Literally a carp angler’s dream!
As always on a new ticket, you want to rush down at every opportunity to suss the lake out, or even catch a nice one. After a few nights it became clear it wasn’t going to be easy for me, probably because I’d never fished a really weedy water before.
From April all the way to January I had three bites and only one fish to show for it, plus countless missed opportunities. At that point you question everything you’re doing!
Finally February came round, and after a football injury I thought, perfect, I now have more time. On my first night in early February I landed a lovely 27lb mirror from a reed-lined edge. That really brought the buzz back!
The Boat
On my second session a few weeks later, with most of the weed lying low, I got the rowing boat out. I hand-placed my rigs along the far margin, with roughly a kilo or more over each rod of crushed Swarm boilies, pellets, Eruption Mix and plenty of corn. Within hours both rods had gone, and I landed a lovely dark 28lb common and a double-row linear at 29lb!
A few weeks later I went down for a day session. Same tactics, same spots, same approach, and again, within 10 minutes of each other, I was rewarded with a 25lb old mirror and one of my targets, a lovely 26lb double-row linear.
Bank Holiday
It had been a busy few weeks and I hadn’t managed to get out, but now it was bank holiday weekend, and new-ticket weekend too, so who knew how busy it would be. I went anyway at first light. On arrival there was a fella and his son fishing the far side, roughly where I’d had my previous five or six winter bites. The lake is split into two halves by an 18–20 yard channel, so the fish will often be at the opposite end if there’s any disturbance.
I saw a couple of shows in one area that morning, so I left the gear and went to try to stalk one out of the edge, as plenty were patrolling. I had a few take some bait, but with the weather turning so fast (sunny one minute, 40mph gusts the next) I decided around 3pm it was time to get in the peg and start planning.
I fished two rods either side of the area where I’d seen the shows that morning, both on clean gravel (I could see it from the bank, the water was gin clear). The Bushwhacker came in handy for putting out a couple of full spoons of the usual Swarm products and plenty of corn. Rig choice this session was a subtle hinge: chod-link material Albright-knotted to a coated braid with a small stripped section, and a nice Pineapple BP pop-up mounted.
Within minutes of the rigs going out I was seeing fish in the area, up in the upper layers. Promising for the night ahead.
2am
At 2am, just as the big winds subsided, my left-hand rod melted off. I lifted into the fish and instantly knew it was a good one: 10–15 minutes of constant deep dives and left-to-right beasting, wiping out the right-hand rod during the battle. I was so happy to get it over the net cord.
Heart racing and buzzing, I didn’t even realise until I got her onto the bank that it was my number one target. After weighing, it was a new PB: King of the Pond at 36lb.
After 8–10 months of struggle I was rewarded with a mental 8-week campaign, which I really don’t think would have happened without the Octopus community around me. The support from this community was immense and I mustn’t forget it. Let’s go, Octopus, and hopefully plenty more targets and PBs on the horizon.
