PB SMASHED IN 14-FISH HIT!
James Ingram is absolutely loving life on the Guys syndicate at Linear Fisheries, as he has already broken his personal best twice in just three visits to the venue, the latest coming in the form of an awesome 39lb 6oz scaly.
The PB topped a 14-fish hit for James, who described it as one of his best sessions ever, having really got the fish feeding on his mix of soaked Bug boilies and particles.
James said: “On the way down to the Guys syndicate at Linear early on the Tuesday morning, I didn’t have much of a plan. All I knew was I had three nights at my disposal.
“On arrival at the lake, I could see there were a few anglers on, but it wasn’t too busy. I noticed the area down where the road splits between Unity and Gaunts was quite free with very little angling pressure, so I opted to take a look around there first. That being said, it was on the front of a north-easterly wind, so I could see why the majority had opted to fish on the back of it.
“After pulling up, I saw the swim I had fished previously was free, so I thought it was a good option to have a look in there and stick to what I knew for the moment, being new on the lakes. It was very apparent after 10 minutes of being stood in the peg that the fish were just off the front of the wind in numbers and spread about, so I decided it was a perfect place to start. After seeing show after show whilst setting up, I was eager to get the rods out. Knowing there were a couple of spots out in front, I chose to fish at just over 100 yards on a clear area that was quite soft with silt. My thoughts behind this were the fish were used to seeing rigs and bait on gravel areas, which does work, but I wanted to try this area, knowing I had a back-up.
“My approach was to fish the same tactics as previous session, which would be PB wafter hookbaits inside solid bags filled with Crayfish Mini Mix pellets, injected with Salmon Oil. I would then introduce a good scattering of hemp, tigers and corn, mixed in with some 12mm and 15mm crushed and whole Bug boilies, all soaked in Calanus Hydro and Bug Hydro Spod Syrup. Two rods were fished directly on the spot, with one rod fished just off it.
“It didn’t take long for the first bite to materialise, which produced a 19lb mirror after only a few hours. This was followed a few hours later by a 25lb mirror, with bites then coming every few hours. The next one in the net was a 34lb mirror, just ounces off my PB.
“I then followed it with a succession of mirrors weighing 26lb, 24lb, 23lb, 21lb and 30lb, keeping the bites coming by topping up the swim with four to six spods of freebies.
“A stand-out carp was a 28lb ghostie, which I saw break the surface around 30 yards out. A 22lb mirror followed this a few hours later. The majority of the fish all came to one rod, fished right on top of the spot, so I decided to fish all three on the same spot to capitalise on how the fish were feeding throughout day, but this may have been overkill, as by Thursday morning the bites started to dry up.
“Towards the evening time I started to see the odd fish show right around to the right of me, so knowing I had made a mistake, I chose to take one rod off the main spot and put a solid bag towards the showing fish and leave it until it went.
“With two rods still on the spot, I topped up the swim with four or five spods of free offerings ready for the night ahead. As the evening rolled in, the rain started and I felt a drop in pressure, and for some reason I had a feeling a few more fish would appear not long after the rain stopped. At around 10pm, one of the rods pulled up tight and I was back into battle. With darkness set in, I couldn’t really see what was in my net, until I lifted it up and saw a big mirror in there. At 39lb 6oz, I had a new PB! I was absolutely buzzing, to say the least. This was only my third session on the water and I had broken my PB on consecutive trips. This was backed up by a fish of 36lb 2oz in the early hours of Friday morning.
“To cap off the session, I managed one off the right-hand rod that was cast to showing fish, which turned out to be a 29lb 12oz common, completing a 14-fish catch from 16 takes. The hit comprised four thirties, including the new PB, and eight twenties.
“DNA doing what it does best. I am forever confident in the bait and know it will always produce.”
