Anchor out at 42lb 1oz from Essex Manor

Nathan Bailey has been in decent autumn form of late, picking up fish of 38lb 1oz and 42lb 1oz from Essex Manor.

The Greys-backed rod caught the 38lb 1oz fish during a weekend session on the busy venue before catching the forty known as the Anchor on a subsequent two-nighter.

Having moved into an in-form area for the second night of that session, Nathan still wasn’t satisfied that he was on the fish. He explained: “Normally after dark you start to see a few, but things were a bit quiet for my liking. At this point I started to get itchy feet and a few hours after dark I could not take any more, so I had a wander to the other end to see if I was missing out on anything. 

“As I approached I clearly heard one top and as I stood there, one after the other showed, which made my mind up instantly and a move was soon under way.”
Having got all three rods out first time, Nathan settled down with confidence and soon received a couple of bleeps on his alarms.

He said: “To be honest the fight was nothing spectacular and didn’t trouble my 3lb AirCurve rod, which suited me fine.

“As I turned the fish on its side in the net I instantly knew it was a fish called the Anchor due to its unique scale pattern. It was one I had been talking about to my mates for some time now as I was desperate to catch it!”

Nathan used DT Bait’s Green Beast boilies and G Force rig components.