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!!

Mark Woolley On 24 Hours

Team Diem - Mark Woolley

I fished on a local club water with two of my friends Gareth and Chris. Although we were just getting together for a social and catch up, we decided to fish a friendly match between the three of us. 

With pressure high we all decided to initially spod over zigs, with the intention of fishing bottom baits over the spot at night should we feel the need. After a few hours of spodding over zigs we were yet to manage a capture, however on the far bank there had been a few fish out on boilies. 

I quickly switched a rod to a snowman set up, with a CC Moore helrasor critical edge which I'd pre soaked in almond goo. This turned the white pop ups a bright pink colour. I fished a CC Moore livesystem 15mm bait to complete the snowman and both baits balanced a size 6 Korda Krank hook. I fished a 7 inch rig made from N-Trap soft. This would ensure that my balanced snowman hook-baits would always kick away from the lead set up, which was the new Korda COG lead system. 

As night drew in I decided to fish both of my rods on the bottom and over the spot that I'd been spodding over the zigs. I spombed out some livesystem boilies and I was set for the night. 

During the night Chris managed two carp and a few bream, Gareth was still yet to catch but I had managed four carp to 17lb 14oz. It was a very cold night with the mat freezing over at one point and I didn't want to wake Gareth and Chris for photos. So I only managed a trophy shot of my first capture, a 13lb scaly mirror. 

The following morning Gareth recast a zig with the mornings sun in full blaze, and after a number of spods of slop over the top he'd earnt his first capture of the session. 

Take a look at the new Diem range HERE to find clothing perfect for every session.