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.
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| 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.
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| 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…
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| 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.
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| 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!
.jpg) |
| 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.
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| 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
