Isle of white based angler Tim Oatley has recently enjoyed a trip on his Rookley Country Park Lake on the Isle. The fishery Owner and Manager fished a short day session and ended up with the lakes biggest resident in the bottom of his net. Here Tim reflects on the events of the January success;

“The day I caught the 40, I thought I was heading for a blank. I was studying the water in the afternoon when I saw the odd small bubble appear on a spot about 25yds out. I quickly reeled in one of my rods and put a two bait stringer on and a bit of a High Riser Foam nugget and landed right on the spot, first cast and followed it up with about 30. I quickly marked the distance on the line with some magic marker for future reference and clipped on the back lead. The rod tip knocked almost straight away so I crouched down and watched it carefully. The tip bounced again and the NXr beeped once as the bobbin dropped a little, before I could pick up the rod the alarm screamed as the bobbin hit the rod and the reel went into meltdown. Straight away I thought it felt like a good fish staying deep with a lot of power. After quite a spirited fight I slipped the net under her, result, it was Milly the lakes biggest resident! Last year I changed my favoured hook pattern over to Arma Point SR's last year and I am very impressed with these hooks to say the least .They stay sharp and give you a great hook hold. So far this January I have had 6 x 20s and a forty. The successful terminal tackle has been the size 7 Arma Point SR’s, 15lb Cortex in gravelly brown, 2.75oz Horizon Inline leads and 15lb Adaptive Camouflage Soft Steel Camo.”

You might have seen Tim with Milly on the cover of Carp Talk the other week, an achievement well deserved by Tim who proved that five minutes in the right spot is better than days in the wrong one! Location Location Location!