Venue first is a cracking 32lb 10oz mirror

LUKE Vallory’s wait to catch his first carp from a pressured Lea Valley club water came to a welcome end when he slipped the net under this cracking 32lb 10oz mirror.

The fish was the highlight of a two night session on the venue, after the 22-year-old self-employed Hertfordshire-based angler moved swims.

“I’d done a few overnighters this winter and a handful last spring but without any joy,” he told Angling Times.

Despite the weather report predicting temperatures of 10 degrees, the Sticky Baits-backed rod initially set up at the furthest end of the lake, in a swim which offered deeper water, in hope the fish would be residing there due to cold night-time conditions. But after an uneventful first night he decided to up sticks and move to a shallower area of the lake.

“I flicked a light lead around the swim and found mostly weed and silt. To ensure complete accuracy, I clipped both rods up to a spot at 30 yards and after much contemplation, decided to fish hinged-stiff rigs, to provide the best possible presentation of my Sticky White Chocolate 16mm pop-up hookbaits in the soft silt.”

Just before first light, his move paid dividends, when the right-hand-rod – fished over half a kilo of Vor-Tex boilies – rattled off and after a spirited battle he scooped up his prize.

He added: “The fact that a third of the lake was frozen, which made the catch even sweeter.”