Resting swim pays off with five thirties

Darren Belton proved how important resting your swim can be when he took a six fish haul, including five thirties, from a tricky southern park lake.

The Kent-based Chub Academy member was targeting a clear area in among the weed at 50 yards but only cast out his rods between the hours of 6pm and 11am.

On arrival at the lake he baited the feature with 5kg of 20mm Mainline Baits Hybrid boilies and although he could see fish in the area he sat on his hands and waited until the evening to cast out his Clockwork Orange pop-up hookbait.

“The fish continued to show but it wasn’t until 4am that I had the first take,” Darren told Angling Times. “The fish promptly fell off in the weed, but half an hour later my other rod was away resulting in a pretty 26lb mirror. Another of the same size followed before I reeled in and topped up the spots for the following night.”

Once again, he had to wait until 4am for the action to start. “I had a fast take that proved to be the start of the maddest few hours I have ever experienced. After a tense battle, a mint 38lb 10oz mirror was having its photo taken. The rod had only been back out an hour when it was away again – this time a 33lb 10oz mirror the culprit. As I slipped it back the other rod was away and a hard fight ensued with the fish weeding me up several times. I eventually get it in the net and on the scales it went 33lb exactly. Three thirties in three hours – unbelievable!”

The manic spell was rounded off with a chunky 31lb 8oz mirror before he went through the baiting and swim resting procedure ready for the next night.

“Like the past two mornings I found myself connected to a hard fighting carp at 4am which turned out to be a stunning fish of 36lb 10oz. A 29lb 14oz mirror then concluded the real red letter session that I certainly won’t be forgetting in a hurry.”

Darren mounted his hookbaits on KD rigs tied with a Rig Marole Skinful hooklink and a size 6 ESP hook.