Brasenose two, Linear Fisheries, Oxford

The carp in brasenose two average about 20lb or so, with plenty of 30’s and a few 40’s up to a lake record of 43lb.

The swims are clean, well kept and comfortable. The stamp of fish is great and the settings are good too, you really couldn’t ask for much more.

It’s 34 acres so there are plenty of swims and areas to target but the fish swim in large shoals, finding them isn’t hard, staying on them is.

Because of that, the best response is bait and the fish respond well to it. You can definitely see the difference in your results based on the effort put in.

Accurate baiting, confident rig presentation and steady feeding can make all of the difference on brasenose two.

There is always a chance for a BIG HIT so be prepared with a spare rod and net just in case there’s a big shoal in front of you.

Baiting advice

I would always take at least 15 kg of bait with me on a trip to brasenose two.

I use fishmeal baits in the summer and more nut based baits in the winter. (complex -T and monster tigner nut) The fish in b2 are usually indiscriminate of bait but a high quality boilie that will pass through them quickly will keep the bites coming.

This is usually made up of:

• 50% corn, tinned preferred but frozen will do fine.
• 20% whole boilies, pre soaked to a soft texture.
• 10% flaked boilies
• 15% hemp
• 4 tins of sardines in oil per bucket
• Generous helping of liquids.

This is not a strict mix but one I have had the most success on.

I would start off with 10 spombs on a spot that you have previously found with a marker lead.

I like to fish on the boundaries of gravel and silt, or just gravel.

Keep the bait accurate and don’t let the spomb land to the sides of your spot.

You will know roughly as soon as you cast whether to stop the spod early as it wont reach the spot you want.

Every 30 mins top up with 3-4 spombs and 5 spombs after every fish.

With this rule of thumb the fish are never far away.

If you haven’t had a bite in 2 hours a recast is always a good option.

Rigs and Tackle tips

Keep it simple. Any rig you are confident in that will present your chosen hookbait and reset itself is good.

A shock leader is a must as you want that extra compression and security for punching your rigs out. This also doubles up as an abrasion resistor as there are many gravel bars that can cut you off.

12 ft rods with at least a 3lb test curve and a low diamater mainline (less than 0.35 mm) will help you with your distance casting.

I use fluro D rigs and short blow back rigs with either fake corn or a wafter tipped with fake corn.

Those are my go to rigs when fishing over a large area of bait.

Otherwise a helicopter setup with a pop up can pull bites just off the spot, a method that has landed me carp to 38lb on this lake.

Best swims

Every swim has its place on Brasenose 2.

The bowl is the first area you reach when arriving at the lake and is usually a hotspot for big hit fishing.

However this takes distance casting of 80-120 yards to be successful at times.

The point is also a favourite swim and if you can get in there you have the middle of the lake to control and can steadily catch fish throughout the day as they move up and down the lake.

The shallows are at the far end of the lake and the fish can get down there in numbers during the warmer months and surface tactics can really come into its own.

Common mistakes

A lot of anglers start fishing further than they are comfortable, in doing so they become inaccurate and struggle for presentation. I’d sacrifice range in favour of accuracy every time.

Another common mistake is to not work the swim, treating it more like a specimen lake and leaving rods out for days without baiting. Brasenose is rammed full of big fish and they eat, a lot.

Something that people are guilty of on every venue, not just Brasenose is not looking for the fish on first arrival, if you can find them and get a rig to them you will catch, so put the effort in and walk the lake.