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!!
