Chilly lands Manor Farm's Spike

“This is a capture that has well and truly lit my fire!” These were the words of Ian Chillcott after capturing Spike from Richworth Linear Fisheries’ Manor Farm at 44lb 6oz.

Arriving to find the lake busy and no signs of fish showing he dropped in to a swim which an angler had just vacated but the first night passed without event.

“The next day I was watching the water when I saw a slick coming up in front of a swim to my right at about 75 yards range,” he said. “I quickly wound in one rod and took it, along with a net and a mat, to the peg and cast out a pop-up towards it. I’d literally just sat down when it ripped off and after a spirited scrap I landed a 24lb mirror.”

With the fish returned he wasted no time moving the rest of his tackle into the swim and soon had all three rods in position. He then baited the spot with 1.5kg of a new prototype boilie from Mainline Baits in a mixture of 10mm and 15mm sizes along with half a kilo of matching Response pellets.

“In the middle of the night I had another screaming take and I lifted into what felt like a tuna! It just kept charging off on powerful runs and stayed deep. After 20 minutes I eventually gained the upper hand and slipped it into the net. I was delighted when I realised it was Spike because it is one of the lake’s jewels. And at weight of 44lb 6oz it is my biggest ever Oxfordshire carp.”

Chilly mounted pop-up hookbaits on hinged-stiff rigs tied with size 5 Arma Point SR hooks and a 30lb Fox Illusion hook section with a prototype hooklink material boom section.

“The fact that it was caught while field-testing new rig components for Fox and bait for Mainline was a great confidence booster. The capture was made all the more special as it was taken during a filming session for a segment for a new DVD that will be released in 2013,” he added.