Macey's hot run of specimen form

 ‘It is catches like this that make the blanks and the hard times so worthwhile.’ These are the words of former Olympic decathlete Dean Macey after celebrating a red hot run of form that has seen him visit both still and running water venues to bank a 12lb 13oz barbel, carp to 31lb 4oz and a brace of 13lb bream.

The first of his red letter days unfolded when he visited the tough Walthamstow Reservoirs complex in the Lee Valley, where in just a few hours he netted three carp totalling 72lb 8oz, which as well as the thirty included a common that tipped the scales at 21lb 2oz and a 20lb 2oz mirror.

He then decided to switch his attention to the bream and spodded out three kilos of pellets to a spot at 80 yards range with Mainline Baits New Grange boilie hookbaits cast over the top. And it didn’t take long for the resident slabs to arrive.

“I’ve been so busy recently with the Olympics going on but you can’t keep me away from the bank for very long. The couple of times that I have managed to get out I’ve got my head down and given it 100 per cent and it’s really paid off,” said Dean.

“After catching the trio of carp I called my mate and told him I was going to catch some ‘proper’ fish and put a load of bait out for the bream. This isn’t every hardened carp angler’s cup of tea but I love them and to round the session off with two doubles was really special.”

His next trip saw him make the 250-mile round trip from his home in Essex to target a stretch of the River Kennet at Burghfield, Berkshire.

This particular venue had been a notoriously difficult nut for him to crack in the past, but his recent form continued when he offered a hair-rigged 14mm Hinders pellet in conjunction with a small PVA bag filled with a mixture of whole and crushed freebies which resulted in the 12lb 13oz specimen.

“The going hasn’t been easy on this stretch for me, but I wasn’t going to be defeated so I thought I’d give it another go and I’m so glad I did,” he continued. “I just hope I can take this form into the winter and catch some huge chub.”