The Oaks Lakes Sessay

[steve2]

I have not seen or fished this place but seeing a report in the angling press regarding a recent matches on here there must be a totally obscene amount of fish starving in these ponds. I am surprised that the RSPCA haven’t got involved in some of these stocking issues.

We have banned performing animals from the circus but performing fish in ponds we seem to look on as OK.
Unfortunately for the fish in these waters and there are many of them they are now being treated as play things and not wild creatures.

I know there will be some on here that will regard it as fantastic fishing but to me it’s just catching starving fish in a barrel.

 

[sam vimes]

As you can tell from my posting history, I'm no big fan of commies and I rarely fish them. However, The Oaks is one of my local commies, and I have fished it. Despite the impression you've got, it's one of the better fisheries of the type that I've encountered.

I only fish such places in the depths of winter, perhaps once every two or three years or so. The hordes of starving fish theory is easily put to bed by how difficult they can be in adverse conditions. Many rivers are a less difficult proposition, provided that you are prepared to fish for anything with fins.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a defence of commies. I'm hardly a fan of them, for quite a few reasons. However, huge match weights don't always give a true reflection of the water concerned. It's fine to have no desire to fish commies, but some of the jaded tropes bandied about, by those that don't like the idea of them, are not entirely justified.