New, Dutch Ocean Fresheeeeee

Doug Caiger.

I’ve got to blank in this swim soon……………

As the months moved towards April, a short trip to France was beckoning. A friend of a friend had recently purchased a lake called Angel Lakes, near Limoges. We were to be the last of the “Great Unwashed” fishing it prior to it’s opening for paying customers. Angels Lakes offer 2 sorts of fishing a “Drive and Survive” and a “Fly and Fish”, we’d opted for the easier flying option. Paul and the gang at Angel Lakes provide all the kit, rods, reels, bivvy, bed chairs, etc all you need is your sleeping bag and terminal tackle. Our flights were booked and bags were packed. There were 5 of us on the trip myself, Pickman, Dimbleby, Briggsy and Sarnie.

Being the one with the biggest car, driving duties to the airport fell to me. We had an early start in order to beat the rush hour traffic and get to Stanstead. Stopping off to pick the boys up on the way, our thoughts turned to what lay ahead of us. Angel Lakes is about 7 acres in size and will cater for approximately 6 anglers at anyone time across 10 swims. There is a dam wall at the southerly end of the lake with a waterfall in the left hand corner. The shallowest part of the lake is on the northerly side with depths of approximately 3ft going to 9ft on the southern bank. On the eastern bank of the lake is the lodge where you have your breakfast and evening meals cooked for you. There are proper showers and toilets too. When the lodge and adjoining buildings were constructed they had the hindsight (for us at least) to put English plug sockets in. Briggsy didn’t know it, but he’d just wasted £10 on a travel adapter he bought at the airport….. 

The plane took off on time and we arrived a few hours later a Limoges. We were greeted by the mini bus to take us to our destination. On arriving at the lake we had a good look around and dropped into the lodge for a cuppa and a quick chat with the team at Angel Lakes. Sarnie wanted to fish the corner swim between the lodge bank and the dam wall, it turned out that the remaining 4 of us wanted to fish the same 3 swims on the bank opposite the lodge. Nothing for it we had to do a draw. A few deep breaths later and swims were chosen. I’d won the draw and went for the swim to the right of the waterfall. Pickman had opted for the swim to the left of the waterfall, Dimbleby had gone for the swim to Pickman’s left and Briggsy had taken the least wanted swim 10, on its own on the north bank.  We walked “all” our gear to the swims to be greeted with brand new Nash Hooligan Bivvies, Chub Bivvy Beds, Fox Rod Pods, Buzzers, Matrix Rods, Shimano Baitrunner 8000’s, everything we could need.

Despite having all manner of weather chucked at us. From sleet and snow, pouring rain, frosts and brilliant sunshine, all in the space of 4 days, a good time was had by all. Three of us caught 30s, myself (to 36lb), Pickman (to 36lb) and Dimbleby (to 38lb). Briggsy who fishes the least out of all of us, and is by his own admission a Fairweather angler, had the biggest smile. He’d managed to catch the biggie at 51½lb on our first full day there. I honestly don’t think the weather bothered him after that, and this for a guy who only fishes when the temperature is 20 degrees C  or more. Spare a thought for Sarnie though, he’d blanked whilst seeing the rest of us catch. We’d managed over 400lb of fish between 4 of us over 3 nights. So if you ever find yourself looking for a lake in France to fish, Google “Angel Lakes”. Paul and his team will make your stay a memorable one.

Something quite amusing happened to me while we were in France. Whilst eating our dinner in the Lodge on the Saturday night, Paul (our host) inquired as to how often we all went fishing.  “Couple of times a month” Sarnie replied, “Same here” replied Dimbleby, “He manages to go every week” one of them said pointing at me.  “How do you manage that?” asked Paul, “Easy” I reply, “Just don’t make a scene when you see Toys’r’Us on the bank statement”.  “She (the Mrs) keeps threatening to buy a dog”, “She’ll never do it though” I confidently said. Well while I was enjoying a weekend with the boys, the Mrs took the kids to buy a dog. So I am now the proud owner of a Cocker Spaniel, called Bracken.  (It’s not to feminine to shout out up the lake when I have the dog with me I’m told….)

So back in England and back to some proper fishing, well that was the plan. I quickly got back into the swing of things, visiting the lake the afternoon I returned from France.  As expected being a Monday the lake was empty. A walk around the lake showed that the fish were still active, with many moving just below the surface. I walked round to the swims that I had been baiting and it was reassuring to see that the banks looked untouched. A trip back to the car for the bait bucket and I returned to my chosen spots to bait up with about 5 kilos of Red Shrimp and Garlic. I managed to catch up with a few of the other anglers over the next few days eager to find out what had been caught while I was in France. Thankfully only Bream had been caught, and loads of them too. No less than 20 Bream had been out to 3 anglers. The next weekend I was able to fish would be the Easter Weekend.  So I’d arranged a bit of a social for the Good Friday. As normal I visited the lake every night and continued to bait up twice a week with a few kilos of bait.

Easter weekend was upon us and I’d taken the Thursday afternoon off work in order to beat the rush for swims. I arrived at the lake to find 2 anglers on the Railway Bank. The wind was blowing from the south west and was very light. I made a couple of circuits of the lake to look for any signs of fish.  On the Railway Bank they’d not seen any signs of fish, funny because there were fish all over the place between peg 1 and 10. I decided to opt for Peg 5, there had been about 7 fish immediately in front of the swim as I walked around. Martin turned up a few hours later and on my advice jumped into Peg 4 to my right. That afternoon we saw 6 other anglers turn up to fish. It was a laugh guessing which swims they’d be fishing as they walked their barrows past. Martin won, much to his amusement.

A good weekend was had by all, more so for me because I was the only one to catch. Not the biggest fish in the world, but at least I hadn’t blanked. I had a 15lb Common about 8am on Good Friday, and just as I was slipping the net under it, the other rod peeled off too. This was one of the new stock fish from January and was around 7lb. It was good to know that the Red Shrimp and Garlic was doing its job still.




The following weekend I was back in the swim I’d been catching from in the top right corner of the lake. As normal I’d made a few visits to bait up during the week. The areas I fish from this swim have become clear of any weed or debris thanks to the fish feeding there. I was able to take 2 fish over the weekend a mid double of 14lb and a 20lb Mirror too. I always feel like I’m going to catch when I come to the lake. The fish have been seeing the Red Shrimp and Garlic consistently since late last year and they have been confident in taking from various swims all over the lake too. I have a few areas around the lake that I know don’t get fished, but are obvious as visiting areas for them. These always get a few handfuls of bait, if only just to help the fish’s confidence when they encounter Red Shrimp and Garlic.

The following weekend would be the first time I get to meet Leigh O’Keeffe of Ocean Fresh. He was coming down on a “Guest” with Tim, who’d introduced me to Red Shrimp and Garlic. I arrived on the Friday after work as usual to find that there were three anglers on. They were fishing in pegs 5 and 6 by the willow tree and 10. I stopped for a chat to see if the guys in 5 and 6 had caught. The one in 5 had had a 20lb Mirror, whilst his mate in 6 had caught a 31lb Common. He was chuffed to bits because he’d not fished for 6 months and was using the weekend as preparation before he went to France fishing for a week. Whilst talking to them, I’d asked if they’d seen any fish activity. But they had nothing to report. Funny that then I should see over their shoulders a bit of activity down in the top right corner. At least 2 different fish had jumped out, that was welcome news.

I didn’t bother walking around the lake having seen those fish. I walked straight back to the car and loaded up the barrow.  Heading down the path bank to the top corner swim, I started thinking about what may lay ahead.  I’d fished this particular swim for the 5 out of the last 7 weekends, Leigh was coming down too so the pressure was really on now.  I’ve got to blank in this swim soon, I thought to myself.  On arriving at the swim there are fish showing all over the place.  As I set the rods up I keep an eye on the lake to see if anything big shows for me to cast at.

I almost feel like home from home in this swim, my bank sticks go into the same holes, as do my storm rods, but surprisingly so do the pegs for the brolly.  I set up the right hand rod with a bottom bait snowman rig, with an 18mm and 15mm Red Shrimp and Garlic.  I’d been playing around with different PVA presentation of the freebies, I’d tried PVA Bags, PVA Stocking Golf Balls and PVA string.  I wonder what would happen if I didn’t use any PVA whatsoever and just threw my freebies in.  I’d watched the water whilst I was setting up and short of having 20 or 30 rods to cast to all the fish showing I opt to fish my usual spots.  So I underarm cast the bottom bait snowman to the clear spot in front of the tree on the right hand side of the swim.  Now I’m confident with Red Shrimp and Garlic, but as per normal whenever I make a change to my fishing approach, I was only going to try this tactic on one rod.  The left hand rod was going to be a single 18mm, with 5 freebies on a PVA string presentation.  Both rods cast, shelter up and kettle on, I sit back for a relaxing evening watching the sunset on the opposite side of the lake.



“Hello Doug” I hear from behind me.  I look around to see Stella who’s fishing on the lake about 100 yards behind me.  Stella got his nickname because he’s always drinking Stella Artois whilst he’s fishing.  “You caught anything?”, “Not yet” I reply.  “You wanna put a rod on that one” Stella says pointing to a fish showing about 20 yards in front of me.  “Yes mate, but I also wanna put a rod on that one, and that one, that one there, and there, and there”.  “Ah, I see what you mean”, he replies.  We spend the next hour or so watching the water, spotting fish and having a laugh.  By this time Stella has run out of cans, so I point him in the direction of the anglers fishing by the willow that I’d seen with a crate of beer earlier that day.

At around 10.30pm I decide to hit the sack.  I’ve had a couple of bleeps but nothing to write home about.  About 2am I’m woken to a one toner on the right hand rod, still working then even without PVA freebies.  A short fight later and I have a 14lb Mirror on the bank.  Now this was an ideal opportunity to try out my new camera with remote.  I’d already worked out the best distance to be from the camera, now it was time for a test.  Having never tried this self take stuff via a remote before, I’d have to be honest and say it looks a lot easier than it actually is first time around.  I fired a few shots off, put the fish back and checked the results, which were ok.  With a few more goes I’m sure I’ll get better at this.  The hardest thing I’m going to have to master is picking the fish up with the remote in one hand, whilst being able to have the remote in the right position for pressing the button.  For the coming weeks, at least whilst I try and master this I decide to take photo’s of all of the carp (big or small) that I catch.  I recast the rod and chuck a few more freebies out around it and climb back into my sleeping bag.  The alarm on my phone goes off at 5.30 the following morning and I get up and put a brew on.  I watch the water looking for signs of moving fish, everything from last night seems to have moved off.  A few hours later and still nothing has shown, there is still a slight mist on the water as the sun slowly breaks above the trees behind me.  The best idea I have is to put some bacon on and have breakfast.




A few cuppas and bacon rolls later I’m sat listening to the radio when my left hand rod strikes up a single tone. I strike into a fish that is moving away from me towards the centre of the lake as speed.  “I’m into something good here” I think to myself.  The fish wants to take line, so I click the reel onto backwind. I always feel more confident back winding than using the clutch, force of habit really from when reels had crap clutches. I can feel the line flicking off the dorsal of the fish and I’m confident that what I have here is one of the commons. After about 5 minutes of battle and with my arm absolutely killing me, I finally slip the net under a good sized common. I peel the net apart and look down to see an dark common. A quick dunk of the unhooking mat and I lift the fish ashore.  “Bloody Hell, that’s heavy” I say to myself. 




I slip the hook out and ease the fish into the weigh sling. As I hoist the fish up the needle spins around to 27lb 14oz. Result, that’s 2x 27lb fish from the same swim in a month. I instantly decide that this fish is too good for a self take and call one of the other bailiffs.  “I’ll be there in 30 minutes” he says, so I sack the fish and make it comfortable for the next half an hour.  30 minutes later and it’s time to show someone my prize. About a dozen photos are fired off, just to make sure that we’ve got the fish in the best light. I really must admit this is one good looking fish, hopefully my photos do it justice.  A celebratory cup of tea later and it’s time to cast the rod out again. What a result, 2 fish and one of them an absolute cracker, this Red Shrimp and Garlic of Leigh’s is really working……………..


Doug