First Monks pit capture With Mark Woolley

As I arrived on the banks of the famous Monks pit located in Cambridgeshire for my second session. I was surprised to find a number of the swims had done bites and that a couple of the more favored swims were vacant. The anglers on Monks pit are all very friendly and all are more than willing to share information. So it's really easy to quickly get up to speed on what’s going on and on this occasion I'd spoken to two anglers before I'd left the car park. After which I'd developed a good idea on where I was going to drop my bucket and which swim to reserve.

A hour or so later and after a brief chat with fellow CC Moore baits angler Ian Fisher. I was fishing with all three rods onto a hard area of around 22 wraps. Two of my rods I opted to fish with a  CC Moore cork ball pop on each. I baited one with a Livesystem pop up and the other with a Equinox bait. I set up both rods with stiff hinge rigs made from Korda 20lb N-Trap soft (silt) as a boom section, a 25lb Mouth trap chod section and a size 6 chod hook. My third rod was set up with a 9ft zig.

Once the rods were out I began to Spomb half a bucket of a mix of bird seed, Equinox & Livesystem boilie, intense hemp, Robin red liquid, Krill amino and Feedstim XP over the top.

The rest of the day passed without incident and I unfortunately I managed a decent night sleep, with no interruptions bar the odd lorry on the A14. Situated directly behind me. I was however woken at first light by a screaming Delkim, although it wasn't mine!!! Instead it belonged to CC Moore consultant Ian. J who'd arrived at first light and no sooner cast his first rod out and it was away!!! I'd met Ian the week before, however I left him to sort himself out before he approached me to take some photos of his 23lb capture. It was very nice to see one of the Monks pit carp in the flesh and I was very excited about the prospect of bagging my very first from the venue.

Once I returned to my swim, my mobile rang and it was Ian Fisher. We had previously arranged to fish together, however Ian saw a couple of fish show in the point swim and opted to fish in there. He'd been rewarded with a 14lb mirror during the night and fancied his chances of catching more with another night ahead of him.

I was fishing on the end of a cold Easterly wind, which was beginning to take its toll. So I ducked back into the warmth of my bed chair to watch the end of the film I'd started watching the night before. No sooner had I begun to warm up and my left hand rod roared off!!!! On pure instinct alone I was over the rod and lifting into my first Monks pit carp. I was convinced that it wasn't one of the bigger fish as the battle wasn't great until we were dueling at close quarters. The fish looked a decent size beneath the rod tip and was hell bent on holding in the depths. It was my first ever capture using the Korda Apex braided mainline and I was very aware of the lack of stretch, putting strain on the size 6 chod hook and hook-hold. My knees trembled for the duration of the fight but I needn't have worried as I had complete control over the two toned mirror, which went into the net at the first time of asking.

The fish tipped the scales at 26lb 10oz and had a beautiful two tone right flank, which looked all the more impressive in all its winter colours. 

What a start to my Monks pit campaign!!

Emotional return to the Syndicate and night of the big brace by Spencer Wright - Part 3

Emotional return to the Syndicate and night of the big brace

Returning back to the syndicate was always going to be hard. There was always going to be so much emotion angling there, once again, with my right hand man, Rascal being close by, in spirit anyway and after parking up the car and making the trek towards the lake, I knew I was going to be probably the most testing nights of angling, that I’d ever had to fish.

My best friend in his most favorite place

Before setting up, I walked over and openly wept at Rascals grave, still struggling to come to terms with his loss. I asked him for some divine intervention from beyond this life and to bring me luck and as always, set his bed up alongside mine just like I had done for a decade or more years beforehand on every lake that we’d been lucky enough to fish together.

Thankfully no one else was about, especially to see me in the state I was in, but went through the motions of strategically placing the 3 rods over the 3 spots that I had in mind, with the aid of my “AI” baiting pole and the old 3 rod trick. A handful of freebies were all that was needed for the traps to be set and then it was time to sit back and reflect.

 Straight away I noticed fish showing near my right hand rod and I sat back and rubbed my hands thinking that I had a chance. One fish showed that I saw it in slow motion. It was quite surreal seeing the biggest fish in the lake came out twice within 20ft of my Northern Special hook-bait. I text my mate Smithy, telling him that it was looking good and a near 50lb mirror was rolling near to my rod. After about 3 hours of watching these fish, I made a decision to move the rod closer to where they were. 15ft away was obviously too far, and although it was something that I’d never done before, I just felt it was worth the risk to re-place it closer to them, which I done as quickly and as quietly as I could.

Components for success.

With tears still in my eyes, I walked around to see Rascal bidding him goodnight and again asked him to bring me good fortune before getting into the bag under my brolly, eventually drifting off to sleep. Occasionally I heard the odd roll in the vicinity of my rod and knew that the re-placed rod had obviously not affected them.

The next thing I knew was the bobbin cracking against the rod blank before hitting the ground before then pulling up tight again. I leapt from my bag and hit into the fish, which initially felt small with a continuous head shaking from the fish being transmitted up the line, but within 30 seconds the fish finally woke up and I was under no illusion that I was attached to one of the lakes better fish. It continued to charge around holding deep in the water and one point the fish was snagged up as it held up behind the bar and as adrenalin pumped through my veins I knew to stay cool and keep the pressure on. This action brought the desired effect and soon it was moving again but not with any conviction, it felt as though I had hooked the bottom, but the bottom was moving! 

Whilst playing it I dared to imagine that it was still indeed a year beforehand when id last fished there at the lake and Rascal had been with me, talking to him whilst being obviously attached to a very big fish. I imagined what he used to be like, battling for position at the front of the platform, eager to see what was on the end of my line…

Nailed in the bottom lip

After 30 agonising minutes where I prayed to god for it not to fall off a huge mirror surfaced in front of me, where I was able to scoop him up in to the folds of my net and take breathe. I held the net, rolling the fish onto its side to try and I.D the creature in question which turned out to be Boxer, the biggest fish in the lake. Whilst he sat sulking, I mustered a few mats, scales and camera equipment together before  hoisting the scales up which pulled down to a satisfying 47-10 and then clicked off a few self takes as I wasn’t prepared to jeopardise the fishes safety with it being May and with them gearing up to spawn within the next month.

As soon as the images were taken he was soon off to sulk and nurse his sore lip whilst I set about getting the rod back on the spot. It was early in the night which was confirmed when the bells of a local church rang out 12 chimes of midnight as I was playing it, so set about placing the rod back where the initial take had commenced. I also made the brief visit to Rascal to thank him for his assistance before jumping back into the warm bag and pulling the top of it firmly over my head.

Biggest fish in the lake - The Mighty Boxer at 47-10

The next thing I knew an alarm was screaming for my immediate attention and line was being ripped from my spool at a rate of knots. As I jumped from my bag the realisation that dawn had arrived as the bright light shone upon my face as I slowly picked up the rod, cupping the spool and slowly tightening the drag as the fish made a 50 yard dash. I couldn’t do anything with it apart from hold on tight and let it tire. When it eventually slowed, it made another dash the other way and I started to shake with excitement as I once again realised I had another of the lakes large leviathans attached to my line.

The surging runs eventually subsided and slowly but surely the fish surfaced in the margins allowing me to once again lift the net around it. The fish was another mirror and looked very long. As I folded it fins and lifted it from the water I groaned and knew it was going to sail over the magic mark.

My estimations proved correct as they settled at 42-9 which meant that I’d had a magical brace of 40’s with a combined weight of over 90lb’s, and on an overnighter! My CC Moore XXX boilies combined with Northern special hook-baits had certainly done the business and my rigs comprising of ESP hooks and components held strong, which was needed with the fights that both fish had put up!  

40+ mirror sat waiting in the net!

My camera was still set up and with me needing to be home within the hour I didn’t have time to call for assistance, so as the camera was already set-up from the nights earlier catch, I quickly rattled off a few more shots, before releasing him back to the depths.

42-9 meaning a brace of 40's and a brace compiling of over 90lb's...

I quickly packed down and started my trek back to the car but not before dropping to me knee’s and once again shedding a tear and thanking my dearly departed friend for his help in my record breaking return.  It had been quite a night, both emotionally and mentally and it was going to be one that I don’t think I’d ever forgot for as long as I lived.

 

As I got home I knew I couldn’t rest on my laurels as I had a trip to France planned and after not really being interested in foreign fishing for more than 14 or so years, I’d been persuaded to join in on the annual Isle of Wight pilgrimage to a big fish lake in France and had a million and one things to organise before I left so, it was going to be a busy week ahead!

Until next time

Be Lucky

Spence

An awesome November days fishing

A rush to get there

Yesterday I received a call from a good friend of mine and he asked if I fancied doing a morning on my local and figured that as I still didn't feel it was Arctic conditions there could be another carp on the cards so we agreed to meet on the water around 06.20am. Due to phone problems I ended up getting up an hour late and didn't get down till an hour or so after my friend had set up. 

Rigs & approach

For over a year this particular water has been receiving treatment for an aggressive weed problem so the majority of my fishing on it has involved solid pva bags but as the treatments have become more and more successful each time it's been done its provided a lot more clear patches, so I decided to go for helicopter set ups. One would incorporate a hinge stiff rig and one using double tiger nuts with a little bag of tiger nut stick mix.

One of my hinge stiff rigs

Location

As I previously stated I was late getting to the lake so my friend had already set up in a double peg so it made sense to jump in next to him. As it was hammering with rain I chucked both rods out to an area were my friend had seen a common jump numerous times just before I arrived.

My very muddy peg

A little while later



after numerous cups of coffee and watching the water around 30 yards to the left of my left hand rod a mirror leaped out of the water like a dolphin leaping out of the sea 5x in total and couldn't resist pulling in, hooking another pva mesh stick mix on and casting it towards the fish. I was pretty excited to say the least as it was bang on the money first time but what happened next I really didn't expect. Just as I put the rod back on the buzz bars i was just about to clip the bobbin on the line and off it went with what i thought to be a carp on the end. I got the fish about three quarters of the way across and it snagged me up in some dying Lillie pads, I tried all sorts of different angles to get it out but it wouldn't budge so fearing the worst I put the rod back on the buzz bars and waited nervously and to my surprise around 5 mins later it started taking line again, so I picked the rod up and was in direct contact with the fish once again. After an epic battle with the carp my friend lee got it in the net, I was relieved to say the least as I know at this time of year carp can be few and far between.



I was right about the carp 12lb 5oz

so although the start of the day was abit manic I was rewarded with a beauty of a carp so it was all worth it in the end

Thanks for reading, tight lines and would like to thank Lee Rhodes for the photography

Catching up with Spencer Wright - Part 2

With captures coming on most night’s I was able to get out, I was completely in the zone, fishing wise. The baiting routine was being undertaken on a near daily basis, and as long as no one else was fishing and If I wasn't baiting up, I was walking around with every spare minute that I had. This meant before work, lunchtimes and even nipping in on the commute home from work, even if I was cycling on my bike. The effort would hopefully pay me back. 

Baiting up whenever i got the chance...

It all made me feel that I was at one with the lake, knowing where the fish were and what they were doing, which to be honest is a great place to be. As it was I was completely overjoyed with my time already on the lake with the 2 big fish to my name and I couldn’t really ask for anymore. 

With my primed big fish area seemingly being taken advantage by others, I changed tack to try and target an area where one of the big commons had slipped up in the past and with a couple of days available to me over the next month I hatched a plan to prime an un-fancied spot with as much bait as I could physically carry.

 I had accrued lots of my custom CC Moore bait over the winter months through various open days and through my writing’s and I was determined to make it all count! I spent a few days identifying the actual spots through plumbing the area to death and then it was game on. Turning up in my lunch hour armed with 15kg of mixed sized XXX boilies to deposit on my favoured area and as I drove back to work, I was smiling inside, knowing that the fish would hopefully be demolishing the bait and thoughts of more of the lake’s big fish were fresh on my mind and I couldn't wait to give it 

 another couple of hits before giving it a go!

Another 20+ from away from the bait

I must admit that my great plan fell at the first hurdle as I done 3 nights on the primed spot which didn't produce a single fish and only saved a blank by finding another little spot off the nearby island which produced a double and three twenty’s. I somehow managed to wangle another couple of nights the following week which produced the spots first take, which was a scraper 30 which was a bonus.

The following week I got in there again which produced a 33+ mirror, but that was it. The spot died a death and never really live up to its expectations, or not at least for the 70 kilos of bait that I'd put on it!

Island blank saver

 At least they'd had a good feed on my bait, which was always my main aim, getting them used to it. Especially as they'd had the best part of 150kg over the previous 4 months! I also luckily managed to get back into my old swim up the far end, which was an absolute joy, as I loved it there up there, away from the crowds with just myself to contend with and my time spent up there was always a joyous occasion.

30+ Mirror eventually from the new spot

I even managed another of the lakes better ones whilst up there, pulling the scales to just under 37, so it was good to know that if I could get in there, I would be able to get amongst them! The fish were piling on the weight with the big common finally succumbing to one if other member’s rods at over 41lbs which was a right result for the Dell and the syndicate as a whole. 

Biggest fish from the 70kg hit of bait

Another of the bigger mirrors pushed over the magical weight meaning that the lake now held 3 over 40, which boded well for the next winter when I was looking forward to having another crack.

Rascal - Gone but never forgotten....

 But for now, I had other plans. I had a trip planned to my old syndicate lake, which would be my first trip back, since losing my best friend and carp dog, Rascal at Christmas. We had spent a lot of time there through his life and he loved it more than anywhere else in the world, which was why he was laid to rest there, meaning it would be more than poignant return and would test my inner strength to its limit.

I also had a trip to France to contend with, which was going to be no mean feat in itself, after not crossing the channel for about 14 years to fish for some real heavyweights, so the rest of the spring was going to be busy, busy, busy….

Until next time…

Be lucky,

Spence