IN HOT PURSUIT!
A sweltering weekend on his Oxfordshire syndicate saw Dave Ash up against it in temperatures reaching 32 degrees, but despite the odds being against him, he still came up with the goods, landing a real animal of a common at 33lb 2oz.
Dave told us: “The first 24 hours passed without so much as a bleep, so I decided not to put in any more until I had some action. I knew the fish were there, as I had been watching them cruising in the upper layers. I even tried floating baits, but apart from the occasional one, there was nothing to go for.
“On the second morning, I received a stuttering take from a fish that weeded me up almost immediately, but after constant pressure I had it moving again. It wasn’t until it was in the net that I realised it was a cracking common and a real beast of a fish at 33lb 2oz.
Dave’s common came from a spot baited with a few handfuls of crushed and whole Bug boilies soaked in Calanus Hydro and dusted in Insect Meal, along with a few kilos of particles. At the business end, Dave used a 15mm Bug Hard Hooker tipped with a 12mm PB pop-up.
