Maggots score for Monks Pit thirties brace

CARL Sharp’s run of good form has continued into 2013 with a stunning weekend session on Monk’s Pit in gruelling conditions.

The West Midlands rod banked two thirties and a stunning winter twenty from the Cambridgeshire water while all around him blanked.

The 28-year-old, who chose a swim at the shallow end of the lake, endured a fishless first night but decided to stay put after failing to spot signs of carp anywhere else.

He said: “I decided to get back in the swim and stick it out on the baited areas with nothing else to go on. The rods had only been out for 10 minutes when the left had rod pulled up tight and I was playing my first carp of 2013, which I played with care as the spot was surrounded by dying Canadian pond weed.”

The fish went 22lb 8oz and inspired him to top up the spot with maggots and Solar’s Up and Down Mix groundbait.

Having lost a fish during the hours of darkness, he didn’t have to wait long for another chance and soon a 36lb 8oz mirror was resting on a previously frosted unhooking mat.

“I could feel that there was definitely another chance on the cards and decided to trickle bait in over the two spots that I'd got working for the next couple of hours, finally calling it quits at 3am.

“This proved effective as the left hand rod gave up one more of the lake’s jewels in the shape of a 33lb 1oz mirror.

“It was just mind blowing winter carping. It had got so cold in the night that the net was stuck solid to the boards and I had to splash it with water to free it.

“The craziest thing about it was that I never saw a sign of a carp or even so much as a line bite all weekend - they just came out of the blue.”

Carl fished maggots on a Solar Spiker Pin on a D rig with a size 8 101 hook and eight inches of Solar’s Easy Strip material.