Waking up to the fact that you cannot see your car on the driveway due to a thick blanket of fog is not the ideal preparation for taking your son, David to his first Oakfield open.  Temperatures of -4 following us to the outskirts of Aylesbury and the fog had started to lift.

After a bacon sandwich in the cafe, a quick look at our lake for the day Brook saw no ice. The pegs closest to cafe were the favoured pegs as this is where the fish have been holed up all winter. Either corner 1 or 30 would do me. So when 26 stuck to my drawing hand I was not too disappointed, not a bad draw but could be better. Spawny git, David, however promptly pulls out peg 30. An absolutely flier that has framed or won nearly every open since I have been coming to the venue.

I decided to fish 2 lines one at 12m and this would be my starting point at the bottom of the far shelf. My other line would be at 14m, a foot away from the far bankside vegetation. Rigs would be .3g MW Pellet floats tied to .12 Colmic Stream to size 18 B911. Bait was corn, expanders and some soft hookers as a change bait.

A half pot of micros and a few grains of corn were sprinkled into the 12m line, with nothing going in on 14m. After 30 motionless minutes I tried a foot away from the feed and after 5minues the float dipped and a nice carp arond 4lb graced my net. Another follwed in quick succesion and it seemed that 6mm GOT Expanders were doing the trick. Then as is quite normal the fish backed off. No other bites were forthcoming. A switch to 14m saw the float bury on the first put in and the black hydro just kept coming out of the pole. Heading into the pegs to my left it just kept going until it finally bottomed out and I parted company with the torpedo. Another look and nothing. A change to corn brought a response however lifting and dropping the bait seemed to produce bites, although missing most I occasionally hooked one or two and although it was  slow I was still putting odd fish in the net. You would get on then nothing, no bites,knocks or indications. Changes of bait did not make any difference so I stuck it out on corn.

At the all out I had 7 fish for 24lb 3oz. Peg 29 had caught fish all day, although small for 41lb and a win. Mark Pollard extracted 34lb from peg 13 and my neighbour on 24 had 6 fish for 30lb. My weight was enough for the section coin and hopefully the first of many envelopes to come my way.

David had struggled on peg 30 netting 3 fish and losing 6 before his shoulder started playing up and was hurting him when holding the pole.

This match was on Brook lake, around an acre in size with a central island approximately 14m across to far bank reeds and grasses. It is very canalised with a near and far shelf and the target species are carp up to mid doubles but averaging 4lb.

The draw saw a decent turnout with a few "names " amongst them Mark Pollard, Lee Ripper and Adam Rooney. All high class anglers on there day with a record on the venue to be envied. Personally you needed to draw in the corners as this is where the fish seem to have shoaled up during the winter. The starights seemed to produce just odd fish, although Gary Thorpe had 17 odd fish last week from peg 22. Just off one of the corners.My hand goes i the bag and out comes clothes peg number 7, slap bang in the middle of the straight.

My swim was 14m to the far bank rushes and 18inches deep. Coming in a metre saw it drop off to around 3ft and this would be my main area. Another line at 7m and another at 1m out from the bank( the near side bank shelves quite steeply and this is where a level can be found. Bait for the day is corn and 4mm sinkers. I also had a selection of 4 and 6mm soft hookers available and a few maggots just in case.

I had found over the last few excursions that my normal rigs were not producing so I stripped them down and replaced them with lower diameter lines and changed the way they were shotted to use stotz rather than shot. A change to size 18 B911's completed the rigs.Still using a MW Pellet float in .3g sizes completed the set up.

At the all in I decided to feed a small pot of 4mm and 4 grains of corn on the 7m line and down the edge. I was simply going to ping a few pellets onto the longer lines to feel my way in. After 10 minutes without a bite I finally put a pot of pellets in at 13m along with a couple of grains of corn. This seemed to kickstart the swim and a couple of bites followed with a small 6oz carp to show for the effort. I was still pinging a couple of pellets across and this seemed to get a few roach going although this would not win me anything. I could hear fish being caught in the corner to my left and word had it the right hand corner had snagged a couple of fish.Carp or bust, I thought.

With the far line only producing small roach a look onto the 7m line was hopefully find my elastic being stretched with a proper lump. Shipping out a single grain of corn into the 4ft swim the float settled then dipped almost immediately, the elastic came out and I was in. The fish moved to my right and went and went, suddenly the rig came back nd a scale the size of a 50p came back attached to the hook. Foul hooked, Sod's law. Still there was a fish there and with renewed enthusiasm out went another grain of corn. After about 10 minutes the float went again and a common carp of 4lb was securely in the landing net. After a biteless 20 minutes I moved to the 1m line. A slow bite came and went as I was not concentrating and 5 minutes passed the orange bristle could not be seen and I was in again. I managed to control the fish into open water in front of me and get its head up, ready to scoop and the fish bolted again this time shedding the hook, a good fish at around 8lb lost at the net. I had sneaked a few more small ounce carp and another of 4lb, losing another at 14m that went straight into the reeds on the far bank when the all out was called.

As usual the corner pegs had produced and as I was not going to trouble the scalesman, I packed up and went to have a quick chat with Nick Bryan on peg 2. He had 8 carp for 20lb plus and was favourite to win the section. Adam Rooney won from corner peg 1 and a good weight from John Price on the opposite corner saw I had made the right decision. Still there is always next week.

I made a positive decision to fish more matches next year and the plan revolves around fishing 3 venues, Alders Farm, Panshill ( a new water to me) and Oakfield.

Oakfield, being only 40 minutes away from the house, it makes a nice countryside excursion. At present there are 3 lakes that occupy the site, Brook, my home for the day, Swallow and Kingfisher. All the lakes have matured over the years and although pegging can be tight, the matches are quite spread out.

Arriving at the on site cafe I was greeted by venue regular and work colleague Nick Bryan, who had filled me in on how it has been performing recently. Pegs 30, 1 and 3 were the ones you wanted, not only a short walk but contained a few fish as well as the winter draws in. My drawing hand went in and peg 22 stuck to it. A quick chat with Nick and fellow GOT Bait angler,Lee Ripper, and the walk to the peg saw me quite hopeful of a few fish. The previous week saw my peg frame with 30lb catching at 12m. It looked nice with a small bay across at 16 metres.An overgrown bush to my right for a margin and 4ft at 7m.

Bait was to be 4mm GOT Expanders with a few 6mm's thrown in and micro's as feed. I had dusted this with some Atomic Cloud which saw them go a lovely reddy colour. I set up three rigs to cover my options. Rig 1 was for fishing at 12m on the edge of the far bank shelf. A .3g MW Pellet float to .16 Browning Cenitan and a size 16 B911. Rig 2 was the 7m rig was identical to rig 1, only using a .4g float. Down the edge consisted of a .2g to .17 Powerline and a size 16 B911. There are some proper fish in the margins and as such I geared up for them.

At the all in I cupped a half cup of micros in on all lines and fed a pot of Atomic Cloud into the margin. A look down the edge saw no indications after 10minutes so a quick switch to 7m followed. Not a bite, not a liner. I moved my bulk around and spread it out to show a slower fall of the 4mm expander impaled on the hook. Still nothing.

I moved across to the far line hoping for a queue of fish, however this was not to be and after perserveering for 1/2hr all I had to show was a small carp about 1 1/2lb. What was more worrying was the lack of bites. Next door was getting the odd indication but not catching. I tried going even further out towards the bay and even with 14m of pole I was still short. Still no bites.

When you are getting bites you tend to adapt to the situation, however I find it hard to understand whats going on when the float does not move.

To cut a long story short I had 2 bites all day and 2 fish for around 3lb so I tipped back. I was not the only one on the day. The wind made holding the pole very uncomfortable at times. Saying that I was made welcome by the lads there and will definately be back there when my shifts allow.

Peg 30 won with 51lb caught to the reeds on his left hand side and at 14m straight out. Peg 3 was second.

Lessons learn't was to tie some lighter rigs and try undusted micros next time.