My first twenty!

That something special

So, the night before my planned session I did the usual and checked the weather to see if would either get burnt to a crisp or get soaked through. Neither were forecast to happen and it was showing a nice carpy overcast day and a light mild breeze. I was very hopeful, so it was time to prepare some bait.

Pimped up luncheon meat!

I started to prepare a simple bait which I had success on before at the same venue which was luncheon meat. It’s a great all-round bait which many species will take and with the venue holding carp, cats and barbel I was in for a chance of hooking into one of them. Even straight out of the tin it’s a good bait, but there is more you can do to improve it even more and make your meat more appealing than anyone else’s…*Cough. I started by cutting the meat into the size I was planning to use and put them into a bait tub, gave them a good pour of Dynamite Baits Rob in Red and added 3 different spices from the supermarket; Tumeric, Paprika and Ginger. Give the tub a good shake and you will notice the spices form a paste on the bait which leaks off into the water to give that bait an edge over others using the same luncheon meat in it’s plain form.

Morning driver!

Bait packed and I’m off!  A quick 20-minute bus journey and I’m at the venue. My choice of pool out of several was the top pool, as a friend has had some nice Koi from it and that was my target really, but anything was welcome to be honest. With the breeze lightly blowing into the far corner I decided to set up down that end and follow the wind. I got the trusty meat out and used a simple hair with a size 4 wide gape which might seem big, but there are cat fish and I wanted to land every fish I hooked. This was tied to a fluorocarbon hook link with no tubing at all, just a simple but effective rig.

I under armed it into the margin where the wind was blowing in and put a few freebies of meat and corn over the top. The margins do see a lot of activity, so it was necessary to have one placed there. The second rod was on a blow back rig with a size 6 wide gape on a fluorocarbon hook link but with a supple braid hair. Bait choice was to go with a Scopex Spice homemade boilie and a bag of pellet. I wasn’t too sure on the boilie approach on this rod, as on my last visit boilies didn’t do well but it was worth a shot. You never know!

Keeping this short, several hours passed on the top pool without a fish. I had some liners and other signals which I thought were takes but nothing! There were several fish which kept showing in a margin across from me and after 3 hours I decided to move, but again a no-show no matter what I did. As I was short on time and had a bus to catch I dropped onto the bottom pool where I’ve had fish from before. I couldn’t go home with a blank and was much more confident that I was in for a chance.

Bottom Pool PB!

Straight away I knew which peg I wanted and it was free. From a previous session I had 7 carp out in the middle towards a small island all on meat, so I knew this was it and I could see a fish for the first time that day. Same rigs and bait as before and both rods on the spots it was the waiting game again, but within an hour I had a take! Just one bleep and big drop back then the bobbin shot back up for a one toner. I pulled into it and it was just a dead weight, it was like hooking into a bag of bricks! I knew I had hooked into a good fish.  It put up a little fight, but it was saving it for the mat I think. I didn’t really get to see much of it in the water until I peered into the net and noticed the shoulders. I knew it was a 20lber, it had to be! I was beaming and called a friend over to take a look. He predicted 19lb which would have still been a result and a pb by 2lb. So, this beauty of a chunk was in the sling and weighed in at 20lb 2oz! I was buzzing and so happy, another angler came over to congratulate me. He must have heard the excitement! The photos were done and after its release I had a happy sick feeling inside. I couldn’t get over it, as I really wanted a 20 this year and now I can say that I’ve done it. I always hear that your first 20lb fish will be the most memorable and it sure will be. This is why we go fishing!

Now a member of the twenty club, well happpy! 

I put the meaty rod back out…. (ok I’ll stop with the innuendos now) and I had another 2 fish, all on the pimped up luncheon meat. A 13lb grey linear and an 8lb common, all of which I was just as happy about as the first. The 20lb was the icing on the cake for me and all the effort that goes into bait preparation is worth it in the end. It really gives you that confidence you know you’re doing something right, putting in the time and effort equals results. It doesn’t hurt to swap and change and move around a venue if you must.

…Buzzing!