Dave out at 51lb from Swan Lake

Putting in the hard yards through the winter paid off for Daniel Bunn as he caught one of the finest day-ticket carp in the country at 51lb.

The big mirror known as Dave, one of three 50-pounders in Northamptonshire’s Bluebell Lakes, came after the 27-year-old spent the colder months finding likely looking spots on Swan Lake.

“I’ve been putting in a lot of time and effort down there,” Daniel told Angling Times, “I went down in the winter just with a marker rod to get to know the lake and one of the areas I found was where I caught Dave from.”

The bite came on the second morning of a three-night stay but the fish did little to initially excite the Lincolnshire angler. “At 6am the rod ripped off but I said to my mate that it was only a little one as it came towards me.

“But when it got about 20 yards off the bank it started to take line and felt really, really heavy. When it came in close we saw it was a big fish but I never imagined for a minute it was Dave. When my mate netted it and said it was Dave I dropped to my knees – I couldn’t believe it or get my head round it.”

Daniel, who caught mirrors of 31lb 8oz and 22lb on his previous trip to the venue a couple of weeks earlier, shared the capture with a group of other anglers as word got round about the capture.

“It was a lovely moment,” he said, “the best moment I could wish for.”

Daniel fished Active Bait Solutions’ Plan B boilies and introduced 9kg during the session. He fished matching pop-ups on hinged stiff rigs made with Fox and ESP components.

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