1,000 miles for amazing brace of rudd and roach
Daniel Woolcott proved his dedication to the sport when he racked up almost 1,000 miles travelling the length of the country to land a brace of new personal bests.
Roach was the first species on the Kent-based all-rounder’s hit list, so he embarked on a 20-hour roundtrip to target the famous Lochnaw Loch in Stranraer, Scotland.
After completing the mammoth journey he got the session underway by feeding a mixture of 10mm boilies and groundbait laced with maggots and hemp at 70yds range out before casting helicopter-style feeder rigs over the top.
With only a few small redfins to show for his efforts by the end of the first night his confidence began to wane. But he received a much-needed boost on the second evening.
“My alarm emitted a series of bleeps and when I lifted in to the bite I could feel a solid resistance on the other end,” said Daniel.
“My angling companion for the session James Champkin thought it may have been one of the trout that inhabit the water but once we got it closer we could clearly see it was a massive roach.
“My previous best weighed in at 2lb but this obliterated it as the dial swung round to 2lb 11oz,” he added.
The action didn’t end there, though, with the building surveyor taking another specimen of 2lb 6oz before he setting off on the long journey home.
With a new roach best under his belt he then set his sights on beating his rudd pb of 2lb 6oz 8dr, with a less daunting trip to Buckland Lake Reserve Fishery in Rochester, Kent.
Using identical tactics to those at Lochnaw he presented his plastic corn hookbait 10yds out. He said: “My only run of the session came at around 4am and I instantly knew that if it was a rudd, it was likely to be a new personal best.
“It stayed deep but once I’d netted it my suspicions were confirmed as my scales registered a weight of 3lb 8oz.”
He added: “These two trips have provided me with the most remarkable period of my angling career to date,” he concluded.
Both fish were beaten with 5lb fluorocarbon mainline tied to size 12 Drennan Super Specialist hooks.
