Eight fish haul topped with 41lb 10oz common

Searing toothache did nothing to dampen Mike Jones’ resolve as he fished through the pain to bank eight carp from the Carp Society’s Farriers Lake – the highlight being this 41lb 10oz common.

Starting his session the day after the extraction of three teeth, the Pontypridd rod was still struggling with a painful wisdom tooth and such was his desire to stay at the venue in prime weather conditions he was halfway through pulling out the tooth himself with a pair of pliers when he had a run from a 28lb 4oz carp.

“I’d had the teeth out the day before and I wasn’t going to go but the conditions were perfect, the pressure was dropping all the time and the fish were fizzing,” said the 43-year-old.

The angling coach was able to get back to his dentist after the three-night session, which also included commons of 32lb and 32lb 9oz.

He said: “I needed some stitches and my mouth clearing up, but there was no lasting damage so it was all worth it.”

Mike, who has now had 25 thirties from Farriers since June, fed 8kg of Nash Monster Squid boilies and 3kg of hemp.

Rigs were snowman presentations on long lengths of 20lb Nash Missing Link, 3oz leads and size-eight Nash Fang hooks.