‘Bait and wait’ for five forties to 48lb 8oz and three thirties

Baiting up and leaving the fish to it for a day paid off for Craig McEvoy, who banked five forties and three thirties in a session.
Fishing one of the open-access weeks at Shropshire’s Acton Burnell, the Black Country carper knew the arrival of his group of six anglers would put the carp on edge – so he bided his time.
Craig found fish in a shallow bay and plonked 5kg of Mainline Cell and Hybrid boilies on their patrol route, just 15 yards out.
“I then went home,” he said. “The plan was to give them a load of free grub with no lines in the water. Plus I won some brownie points with the wife and took her out for the night!”
He added: “I arrived back on Sunday afternoon and when I walked into the swim I stood in awe – it looked like a Jacuzzi out there! The carp were having it big time.”
Spacing his three rods across the swim, Craig did not have to wait long for a 33lb mirror to pick up one of his hookbaits.
After the bay quietened down, the next take came in the middle of the night.
“Its first run saw it strip over 60 yards of line and I had no choice but to follow it out into the shallow bay.
“So in I went fully clothed, and it was a surreal experience playing a monster in the pitch black, standing in the middle of the lake.
“After around 30 minutes I eventually netted a great big male mirror called the Attwell Male.
“I was absolutely made up and at 42lb 8oz I couldn’t stop smiling.”
After a top up of bait, Tuesday morning brought carp of 37lb 2oz and 33lb 2oz.
Then, after Craig had rested the swim again, a midnight bite produced a 40lb 2oz mirror.
Not long after, another brutal fight lasting 45 minutes brought the aptly-named Arnie to the bank at 42lb 8oz.
After resting the swim yet again, and taking his wife out for a pub lunch, Craig returned to the swim and received another take early the next morning, banking the Ottered Mirror at a new pb weight of 48lb 8oz.
“To say I was in shock was an understatement,” said Craig.
But the haul wasn’t over yet. At 3pm the fish known as Lord Lucan made an appearance at 44lb 4oz.
“She was my fifth forty of the session and that was four forties in four consecutive bites – incredible! She was a stunner and I was completely blown away.
“This was my session of a lifetime, and I know that I will never repeat such a catch.”

Chip off the old block

This image encapsulates the real beauty of fishing.
The beaming smiles on the faces of father and son duo, David and Oscar Highe, were thanks to this superb 9lb 5 oz male tench, which sets a new personal best for David.
At just four year’s old, Oscar joins his dad on most of his fishing sessions and this was the case when the duo, from Bawdeswell in Norfolk, visited a local gravel pit and feederfished worm hookbaits over a bed of maggots, casters and chopped worms.
“Oscar has started joining me on night fishing sessions and he loves every minute,” said the Norfolk & Suffolk regional organiser for the Tenchfishers.
“I’ve been after a double-figure tench for a while and to get one step closer with a ‘male’ like this with Oscar by my side is really special.”
To find out more about the Tenchfishers visit: www.tenchfishers.com

Match info leads to huge rudd

Jamie Martin had the Angling Times match results to thank for helping him locate this dream 4lb 1oz rudd.
This is the biggest reported this season and fell to the specialist after he scoured our match pages for venues that have recently been producing big fish.
The Ely angler had spent years trying to smash his 2lb 10oz pb and finally achieved his ambition after he pinpointed a fishery in the Fens holding rudd over 3lb.
He fished a pink mini dumbbell boilie alongside a small feeder packed with liquidised bread.
No bites came during daylight, darkness sparked a reaction, with an aggressive bite kick-starting the action. Jamie said: “It gave me an epic fight and I was convinced I was attached to a tench.”
“Just as I was about to net it I saw a huge bar of gold close to the surface and instantly my knees went to jelly.”
“Once it was in the net it was clear I had broken my personal best but I was amazed when the needle went round to 4lb 1oz.”
“I’ve landed three fish weighing 2lb 10oz previously and it felt like I was never going to get past that milestone.
“I’ve spoken to lots of matchmen and their information has helped me locate big pike, perch, zander and carp,” added Jamie.

500lb of Linear tench topped by a nine-pounder

One of the biggest tench hauls of all time has been taken from Oxfordshire’s Linear Fisheries.
Tipping the scales at a whopping 500lb, the mammoth bag was the work of specimen angler Mark Daffern, who netted no fewer than 58 fish during a three-day session on Linear’s Unity, one of the syndicate lakes on the popular complex.
The Nuneaton rod’s amazing catch was topped by a superb 9lb 1oz fish and backed up by five others over the 7lb mark.
Mark started his stint by baiting up with 20 spodfuls of chopped worm, hemp, seeds and maggots, plus a few handfuls of pellets and sweetcorn, all of which were deposited on to a spot at around 60 yards range.
He then set up two helicopter feeder rigs and the action began early on the first morning when Mark banked the majority of his initial 24 fish, including four seven-pounders, a fish of 8lb 4oz and his biggest specimen.
All took either maggots or hair-rigged pieces of worm.
“At times it was total mayhem – I’ve never known fishing like it. It was a real buzz,” said Mark.
The second day saw him with a 14-fish haul, and 20 tench were landed on day three to cap a memorable session.
“It was frighteningly frantic!” he said. “I had weighing gear all over the place with rods scattered about, and I had to drop my spod rod several times when I got a run while topping up the swim with bait,” he continued.
“It was absolute madness, but I loved every minute of it.”
While Mark’s catch was taken from one of the members-only waters at Linear, the fishery has also been producing some stunning tench catches from its day-ticket pools this season and bosses are encouraging anglers to fish for this species as well its huge bream and roach.

40lb Yateley common falls after four seasons of trying

If you’re struggling for a bite at the moment, take comfort from the determination of David Tudor, who caught this 40lb Yateley common after an incredible three-and-a-half-year blank.
The 43lb 10oz fish, known as Snub Nose, ended an epic drought for the 29-year-old at the famous complex’s rock-hard North Lake.
Having moved on to the lake in September 2012, David endured a biteless first season – and that was only the beginning.
“By early 2015 another season had passed and I was really feeling it,” the insurance manager said.
“Two-and-a-half years had flashed by, and I then really started doubting whether I wanted to keep at it. I had jokingly taken a lot of ribbing from my fellow anglers on the lake, and I think it was the thing that spurred me on to yet another season.”
A breakthrough came in May last year when David hooked two fish in one night, but lost them both.
“I really felt like that was the last straw,” said the Farnborough angler. “I packed up and headed home to find that literally as I had loaded my gear into the car another angler had turned up and landed a nice mid-30 mirror!”
Fast-forward to April this year and despite remaining fishless, David was convinced this season would be different. The blanks initially continued but a two-night session earlier this month changed everything... eventually.
First, David moved out of the Islands swim only to watch his mate move in and catch a 22lb mirror almost instantly. “My heart sank, but I was happy for him at the same time,” said David, who had moved to the Fighting Post swim for his final night.
At 6am the next day, David’s right-hand rod sprang to life and he instantly knew it was not just a fish, but a good one.
“I suddenly went weak at the knees and they felt like jelly,” he said. A nerve-shredding half-hour battle followed but eventually he bundled his new pb into the net.
“It’s possibly the longest blank in carp fishing history, but would I have it any other way?
“Definitely not!” David said.

Anglers flocking to famous carp reservoir after massive changes

One of the most prolific and iconic day-ticket fisheries in the UK has just got even better.
Venue bosses at Drayton Reservoir in Northants have announced the biggest revamp in the record-breaking stillwater’s history, and have announced that it’s busier than ever as anglers flock from miles around to target its huge stocks of carp.
Months of renovation work, which included the complete rebuilding of the most popular pegs and improved access and facilities, were completed ready for a sell-out weekend which saw some anglers bank 700lb of carp at a single sitting!
And with water temperatures on the rise, venue experts predict that the water, whose carp now average around 14lb, will enjoy its best year ever.
Mark and Angie Ryder have managed Drayton for the past nine years, and since the improvements have been made they say the buzz surrounding the fishery has been ‘incredible’.
“We opened some of the improved areas over the May Bank Holiday weekend and the days leading up to it were manic.
“The phone didn’t stop ringing day and night and there wasn’t a peg left,” said Mark.
“One angler banked 54 fish to well over 20lb in a 48-hour session, and it’s not uncommon for visitors to bank 1,000lb of carp in 24 hours. That’s what this place is capable of, and we are immensely proud because it’s immaculate and continues to play a massive part in showcasing what fishing should be all about.”
Drayton is owned by the Canal & River Trust, and National Fisheries and Angling Manager John Ellis said: “This fishery has been breaking records since we opened 22 years ago.
“The place looks incredible after all the work we’ve done, and the investment and improvements will mean that it’s only going to get better. In fact I’d say 2016 is set to be its best year ever!
“I know for a fact that well over a quarter-of-a-million have fished here since we opened, and it’s changed from being a match venue with weights well over 400lb to one of the country’s premium venues for large numbers of big carp.”
Top match angler Phil Ringer is a big fan of the place, and he said: “The changes made will make Drayton even more popular. There are few better lakes for anglers wanting to catch big carp.”

The five-year double-figure tench

A five-year quest to catch a double-figure tench ended in success for Andy Waters when he banked this 10lb 5oz specimen.
He’s been targeting the same syndicate water in Norfolk for many seasons, but despite catching countless big tench the elusive ‘double’ had eludedhim until the Suffolk specialist’s latest session.
It wasn’t plain sailing from the off for Andy, who moved lakes after not feeling confident with his first choice. That proved to be an inspired decision, as tench began to roll at 60 yards over an area in his new location.
He hair-rigged two imitation maggots to the back of a size 12 Korum hook on a heli-style maggot feeder rig and presented his bait over a bed of pellets, chilli hemp, casters and maggots, backing up his new pb with tench of 8lb 11oz, 8lb 2oz and four over 6lb.

Personal-best common carp on his first visit

Matthew Lockett’s debut visit to his new target water resulted in a three-fish catch topped by this immaculate 40lb 12oz common.
Despite high air pressure and strong northerly winds, he picked up commons of 12lb 10oz and 20lb 2oz before connecting with the new personal best on day two.
Matthew targeted the southern venue with CC Moore Live System boilies, and caught the forty on an Acid Pear pop-up cast to showing fish.

Better than the average ‘livebait’...

Predator fishing legend Gord Burton got a big shock when he netted this 2lb 1oz roach from a northern canal – while fishing for livebaits to go piking!

Using a floatfished double red maggot hookbait, he found a few small silvers before the action stepped up a notch.

“When it came to the surface I couldn’t believe such a stunning big roach was staring back at me,” he said.

After returning the redfin, Gord wetted a line for pike later in the day and was rewarded with a pair of fish to 21lb 12oz.

Whincup chalks up his second White Acres win

Guru Festival (Mon-Fri)
White Acres Holiday Park (180 pegs)

White Acres festival wins are a little bit like buses for Jon Whincup.
After years of trying to nail one, the Peterborough man finally made the breakthrough in last year’s Maver event and he followed that up double-quick by taking the first-ever Guru-backed five-dayer by virtue of a better dropped points score.
Totalling 36 points, the Frenzee/Bait-Tech man got rid of a section second to better five-times World Champion Alan Scotthorne.
Alan scored the same points but discarded a third in section, Paul Holland finishing third overall.
Jon’s week began with a section win off Bolingey Lake peg 7 as he took 105-11-0 of carp on pellet fished at 14m down the edge.
Another maximum points score followed on Tuesday with 49-0-0 of F1s and a few carp on meat fished at 16m from peg 2 on the Pollawyn Lake.
Trewaters peg 45 was next for the postman. There he bagged 79-0-0 of carp on bomb and bread to the island and pellet in the edge.
Then came his only blip of the week – a second in section – which came from Trelawney Lake peg 22 with 79-0-0 of carp on pellet at 14m.
Needless to say, a section win was needed on the final day to wrap things up and a triumphant Jon did it in confident style with a level 11-0-0 of roach from Porth Reservoir.

Overall result: 1 J Whincup, Frenzee/Bait-Tech, 36pts (dropping eight points); 2 A Scotthorne, Drennan/Sensas, 36 (dropping seven points); 3 Paul Holland, Guru, 35 (dropping eight points); 4 A Power, Preston Innovations, 35 (dropping seven points - 468-9-0); 5 P Canning, Solihull Angling Centre, 35 (dropping seven points - 369-10-0); 6 J Maddison, Mosella Quaker, 34.

Wood Common at 49lb 8oz completes a fine double

Andy Hargreaves has become the first visiting angler to bank both of Spitfire Pool’s coveted commons.

His capture of the Wood Common at 49lb 8oz comes after he caught the Norfolk venue’s Long Common at 41lb last year. Only venue owner Rich Wilby had previously completed the double.

The Wood Common came in the final hour of Andy’s final day of a week-long session.

The 29-year-old told Angling Times: “I started fishing there for this fish and I wasn’t leaving until I caught it.”

The Salford angler added: “Catching the Wood was incredible. I fish to collect a set from a venue and it was the same at Spitfire. To catch both commons was a hard task having only been done by the Rich before. I just kept jumping about screaming – what a session!

“I personally think they are two of my three favourite commons in the country,” added the leisure manager, who is now after the third of those fish, an under-the-radar 50-pounder.

Big canal zander from the murk

A heavily coloured canal didn’t deter lure fishing ace Chris Lowe, who banked this hefty zander.

The Savage Gear-backed rod turned up at a Midlands cut to find visibility at a minimum, but still tied on a ‘noisy’ Da Bush spinnerbait and bagged the fish, which he estimated to weigh close to double figures.

“By pitching it close to boats I convinced this fish to hit a lure that you wouldn’t consider to be a classic zander bait,” he said.

Fish O’ final is all set to be best ever

This year’s PartyPoker Fish O’Mania XXIII final will be the best ever, with a host of exciting new plans for the big day.
The 16-man final will remain unchanged, with half-hourly weigh-ins in front of the live Sky Sports cameras, but fished alongside it will be a six-peg International Masters.
This will see match fishing greats from England, Holland, Italy, Scandinavia, Germany and France fight it out on the Arena Pool for the trophy and a £3,000 first prize.
Spectators will have the chance to leave Cudmore quids in, thanks to a ‘guess the winning weight’ competition from Fish O’ sponsor PartyPoker.
Just sign up to the PartyPoker website, go to fishomania.net and have a shot at winning £2,000 by estimating the winning weight. Three £1,000 runner-up prizes will keep interest levels high.
“I’ve always looked forward to Fish O’ finals but this time I’m more excited than ever before,” said two-times winner Jamie Hughes, who has already booked his place in the semi-finals.
 “We are talking about the sport’s biggest tournament and this will be the best final ever, with lots of twists and turns to provide a great spectacle for another big crowd.”
The ladies and juniors will be fishing their finals on the Suez Canal on the Saturday.
To find out more visit:
www.fishomania.net

Best bream of year goes 17lb 2oz

Prebaiting paid off for Craig Woolhouse when he made an huge haul of bream topped by the best specimen of 2016 so far.

At 17lb 2oz, not only is it a lake record, but it also smashes the 35-year-old’s personal best.

He visited his targeted venue in his home county of Leicestershire the day before he began fishing and prebaited a spot at 98 yards with two tins of corn and two kilos of pellets to get the bream grubbing around on the lakebed.

His tactics paid dividends as hair-rigged hookbaits saw him land an impressive string of slabs to back up his new pb. They included bream weighing 14lb 12oz, 11lb 10oz, 11lb 9oz, 11lb 4oz, 10lb 12oz and 10lb 8oz.

“I’ve had some massive hits of big bream in the past but to catch a lake record and beat my personal best of 14lb 8oz twice in the same session makes this pretty special,” Craig told Angling Times.

“The biggest fish fell to a fake grain and a real piece of corn that was popped up about an inch of the bottom.”

During his three-night session Craig fed his way through 15 kilos of pellets, eight pints of maggots and eight cans of corn.

Shock turns to joy with a £1,000 winner

Proof that you should always go to your draw no matter how bad it may seem was served by Chris Senter in the Bank Holiday Maver Classic Final as the Worcester man turned an on paper shocker of a peg into a winner to win £1,000 first prize.

Fished by 72 qualifiers across two days at the Maver Larford Lakes complex, Shakespeare Bait-Tech man Chris scored section wins on both days to emerge as the only angler to record a perfect score. Runner-up Neil McKinnon and third-placed Max Galaszewski finished on three points each with weight needed to separate them.

Chris went into the match unsure as to how the cold weather would affect Larford, but was pleased to draw on the Match Lake for the opening day, as this would allow him to work out how the neighbouring Specimen Lake had performed.

“I had a good idea of how to approach the Match Lake and drawing peg 18 in the middle of the grass bank was handy,” he said. “I kicked off on the Method feeder with mini white boilies just past the long pole line, pinging 8mm pellets over the top. This caught an odd decent carp while feeding pellet and corn short at 6m for the final 90 minutes. It produced a good run of carp, although I also had three late on in the edge on corn.”

Those three margin fish were to be crucial as he pipped Simon Fry to the section by a little over 1lb as Chris weighed in 62-6-0. Day two dawned with peg 28 almost at the end of the burr bank on the Specimen Lake and Chris thought his chances were over. “It’s not normally that good at this end, but I saw a few fish topping” he continued. “I began on the Method but didn’t have a bite so changed to the pellet waggler fished 3ft deep with 8mm banded pellet. It was slow going in the wind but it changed direction, blowing over my shoulder, which was ideal.”

Plugging away with the waggler, Chris netted 10 big carp to weigh in 94-4-0 and win the section with over 20lb to spare.

Overall result: 1 C Senter, Shakespeare Bait-Tech, 2pts; 2 N McKinnon, Preston Innovations, 3 (191-11-0); 3 M Galaszewski, Maver, 3 (171-2-0); 4 S Harris, Little Dawley, 3 (154-2-0); 5 M Marshall, Barnsley Bait Co, 4.

Day one result: 1 M Marshall, Barnsley Bait Co, 133-12-0; 2 M Galaszewski, Maver, 112-4-0; 3 A Kinder, Maver/Marukyu, 107-12-0; 4 R Lamb, Maver, 104-14-0; 5 R Clement, Barnsley Bait Co, 100-9-0; 6 M McKinnon, Preston Innovation, 94-4-0.

Day two result: 1 S Harris, Little Dawley, 96-4-0; 2 R Lawson, Matrix Total Angling, 95-15-0; 3 N McKinnon, Preston Innovations, 95-13-0; 4 C Senter, Shakespeare Bait-Tech, 94-4-0; 5 M Jones, Tredegar Tackle, 94-1-0; 6 J Jones, Larford, 92-15-0.

48lb 2oz pb carp arrives at pack-up time

A last-gasp bite, a nerve-shredding battle and this 48lb 2oz mirror combined to make “a dream come true” for Dan Ashmore.

The day-ticket giant, from Quarry Pool at Staffordshire’s Baden Hall, hadn’t been caught for 18 months and put up a huge scrap not long before Dan was due to leave the site.

The 28-year-old from Chorley, Lancashire, said: “I had to be away by 11am and I had begun the slow pack-down by 9.30am when I was having a cuppa, thinking conditions looked mint.

“Then my right-hand alarm erupted and an angry carp peeled line off my reel. There was no stopping it and the bend in the rod was ridiculous! After nearly 30 minutes there was no sign of the carp giving in.

“My heart was pounding and I was shaking with the thought of what I might have hooked. Realising I had packed my waders away, I threw my phone and wallet out of my pocket, took my boots off and entered the water.

“A few minutes later another angler arrived to help out and into the net she went.”

Dan, already beaming after banking a 31lb 4oz common earlier in the two-night session, added: “The scales slammed round to 48lb 2oz, a new lake-record mirror and pb for me.

“Everybody was buzzing doing the pics in the water, even when the inevitable bucket of cold water covered me.”

Incredible roach brace tips the scales at 7lb 5oz

This is one of the biggest braces of roach in the history of angling.

The specimens, with a combined weight of 7lb 5oz, were caught by roach fishing fanatic Mark Mclennan from the renowned redfin complex, Highbridge Lakes.

Weighing 4lb 1oz and 3lb 4oz, they were tempted on 15mm Nash 4G squid boilies during a three-night session at the Norfolk fishery.

A change in tactics provided Mark with the once-in-a-lifetime catch, prompted by what he called ‘nuisance fish’.

He said: “I switched from fishing standard maggot feeder tactics to helicopter-style rigs with broken boilies in blockend feeders in order to avoid nuisance perch, which seem to have exploded in numbers this year.”

Fishing just four rodlengths out, the change worked a treat, and the 55-year-old from Bedfordshire was soon breaking his previous best of 3lb 2oz twice in the space of two days, along with catching numerous smaller specimens to just over 2lb.

“I have been fishing the lake for more than three years in search of roach this size.

“Before that I took 25 years to get a 2lb-plus roach. To catch two fish like this in the same session has simply left me speechless” he added.

Mark’s winning rigs consisted of 50g swimfeeders on 6lb mainline tied to just 2.5ins Preston Powerline hooklengths with size 8 Kamasan B980 hooks.