PERRY’S 17-YEAR WAIT FOR NEW PB IS OVER!
When you’ve caught as many big carp as Perry Alabaster has, personal bests don’t come around very often. In fact, it had been 17 years since Perry last tasted that special moment of personal triumph.
However, just a few minutes into his latest session on the Monks Pit syndicate in Cambridgeshire, Perry’s long wait was finally brought to an end, when he slipped his net under a magnificent 55lb 14oz mirror!
After all this time, all it took was one of the new yellow S7 Half Tones wafters combined with the soon-to-be-released S7 Amino Smoke cast to the right spot, and the rest is history!
“As I set off from home to go fishing this week, I was stopped in my tracks by a delivery man walking up my path carrying a large cardboard box with ‘DNA Baits’ printed all over it,” said Perry.
“I was initially going to let the wife deal with it, as I was keen to get over the lake, but I suddenly remembered I’d ordered some of the new yellow and orange S7 Half Tones hookbaits. Getting a chance to try a new variation of my all-time favourite bait really appealed to me, so before the delivery guy had even jumped back in his van, I’d delved down into the box and grabbed a pot of the new pop-ups and a pot of the wafters.
“I got to Monks Pit a bit quicker than usual, but I figured I’d have a valid excuse if I were to get pulled over for speeding. ‘I wanna try my new S7 hoookbaits, Officer.’ Surely they’d understand?
“With my first-choice swim already occupied, I spoke to a couple of the lads just leaving to help me make my choice. As strange as it may sound, I generally tend to pick swims on Monks that have either done no bites for a while or, better still, haven’t been fished for a few days at all, because on a venue like Monks, the decent swims rarely stay action-free for long.
“One of the deeper-end swims that hadn’t seen much action since my mate Billy Wells caught a few from it over a week ago was vacant. Plotting up here would mean I’d be fishing on the back of a strong southerly wind – perfect! It looked like it was about to rain, so I quickly chucked a single orange S7 Half Tones pop-up on a hinged stiff rig out towards the middle of the pond, just so I’d be in with a chance of a quick bite as I set up my gear. Twenty minutes later, the dark clouds blew over and the sun came out, so I got the next rod in place. This time I went with a yellow S7 Half Tones wafter in a solid bag filled with Crayfish Mini Mix pellets and crumbed S7, and then injected it with plenty of S7 Amino Smoke liquid. As I stood in my swim deciding whether to get a third rod out next or bring the single pop-up rod in and reposition it, the solid-bag rod was in meltdown! The fish didn’t feel too big at first, knocking its head around a few times as it swam towards the bank, suggesting to me I was into one of the lake’s little stockies. Once it got within 20 yards of me, it decided to use its weight and I realised this was definitely no little stockie! Eventually, the wide back of something big broke the surface, causing a wave that really got my adrenaline pumping. As it wallowed into the net, I thought, ‘Oh yes, that’ll do!’ It looked well over 40lb; possibly 50-plus.
“I can’t repeat what I said as I lifted the retainer with my dismantled net and fish safely unhooked inside it from the water, but it suddenly dawned on me that this could finally beat my UK personal best, which had stood at 54lb 4oz for more than 17 years. Up on the tripod she went and as the scales settled, I said to myself, ‘Yes! At least!’ I’d finally got a new UK PB of 55lb 14oz. What a start on the new S7 Half Tones!
“I could’ve kissed the fish, but I resisted the temptation! I could kiss the delivery driver too, but I’ll try and resist that temptation as well. He’d never understand!”
