First-night success as 'The Brute' is tempted

Louis Slade couldn’t have dreamt of a better start to his campaign on Reading DAA’s Pingewood Lagoon, landing his target fish on his first night at a huge weight of 48lb 12oz.
With the temperatures soaring during the day, the Reading-based rod decided to fish zigs during the day and then switch to bottom baits during the night.

After doing several laps of the water he eventually set up in a small bay which the wind was gently pushing in to, and every couple of hours put out a handful of CC Moore Odyssey XXX and Equinox boilies.

“As the sun started to set I wound in the zigs and cast out a couple of boilie hookbaits. One was tipped with a piece of artificial corn and the other with a bright 10mm pop-up,” said Louis. “One of the rods was cast to a small gap in the tree line and I had to be ultra-accurate to get the rig exactly where I wanted it.

“At 2.30am the bobbin on this rod pulled up tight and I leapt out of my bed to begin battle with my first Pingewood Lagoon carp. It was a very dogged battle which resulted in a new pb common of 30lb. I was elated and got the rod back out as quickly as possible.
“Half an hour later I received another take on the same rod and straight away it was apparent that whatever was on the other was a lump – it felt like I was playing a bag of sand. The fish wallowed about for a good five minutes and as I got it closer, my mate Sam Lambourne who was waiting with the net, recognised the fish’s leathery complex  and shouted it’s ‘the Brute’. Thankfully it went in the net on the first attempt and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“As I lifted the fish up for the cameras I paused for a second to think about the famous anglers who had caught this fish before me and it was a true privilege to share the same experience,” he added.

Louis beat the sought after specimen with a size 8 ACE Razor Point Long Shank hook and an 8ins Korda Supernatural hooklink.