SESSION OF A LIFETIME AT THE SECRET GARDEN
Byron Brown described his visit to the Secret Garden in France as the “session of a lifetime”, and with four fifties under his belt, shared in the company of his fiancée and two children, there is no wonder!
“I took The Bug with me, and wow, what a bait!” said Byron.
“I started off the week just fishing for a bite, as I had no idea what the guys had put in the previous week. I got the rods out on Saturday evening along with half a kilo of The Bug over each rod and just before first light I’d landed my first Secret Garden hippo. I got the fish on the scales after putting the rod back out and the needle pulled round to 59lb 5oz. Boom! So lucky for my first bite.
“The fish obviously couldn’t resist, as I managed a 45lb 14oz common from a different rod very soon after. I chose to do self-takes of the common in the dark and I retained the big ’un for just after light to get some better pics.
“The second day was a little quiet, as I was trying to work out the fish’s movements and where to fish at what times of the day. With the lake being fairly small at only five acres, I was conscious they would be very mobile and potentially very fussy where they would like to feed. Once I thought I’d seen some subtle signs, I repositioned two rods with half a kilo of Bug on each rod at the other end of the lake in two different areas. The first rod rattled off a few hours later and after a long, hard 20-minute battle, I slipped the net under what looked like a good common and I wasn’t wrong, as she went 53lb on the scales – two fifties in two days! Shortly after, the other repositioned rod was away with a 47lb 12oz mirror on the end.
“It became apparent that if I worked at this, I could hopefully make it a dream week, so with that I was up before first light each day and didn’t sleep until well after dark to see if they gave any other signs of their movements throughout the night, which they did every now and then.
“I went on to have a session of a lifetime. The following days I managed to keep on my toes moving about and dropping The Bug in different areas at different times of the day and night and the results would speak for themselves.
“I ended with a final tally of four fifties to 59lb, seven forties to 47lb, seven thirties and a 26-pounder, a scattered linear that hadn’t been caught for five years.”
