Snail intercepts carp as it follows spawning tench

A snail threaded directly on to the hook produced this 42lb common carp for Tony Gibson during a session on Bluebell’s Swan Lake.

The 51-year-old Nash Tackle and Dynamite Baits-backed rod had banked a couple of tench and bream early in his stint at the Northants day-ticket water but bites soon tailed off as most of the had drifted out of the area.

“I had a look in a quiet section of the lake and found some tench that appeared to be getting ready to spawn,” the IT project manager told Angling Times. “There was a group of good carp following them and grubbing around, and I assumed they were wanting to feast on the tench spawn.”

Moving his gear to the area, Tony cast a rod over a clear patch near to where he’d seen the carp feeding. Selecting a large snail from a tin of Dynamite Baits Hemp & Snails, he threaded it on to a size 6 Nash Twister hook and tipped it off with a small section of dendrobaena worm.

He said: “I’d had success with big crucians and tench earlier in the year using snail hookbaits and also caught a few accidental carp on them, so thought they would make an ideal natural hookbait to try for carp that might be eating spawn.”

In the early hours of the morning, during the middle of an electrical storm, a single bleep was followed by a screaming run and after a powerful fight the chairman of the Northampton Specimen Group netted his prize.

Tony’s rig comprised a 12lb Nash D-Cam mono hooklink and a 2oz lead on a Nash Run Bead.