THE REALISATION OF A DREAM
It was a moment he had dreamed of since joining Monks Pit, Steve Haylett admitted after he set a new personal best with one of the Cambridgeshire syndicate’s most-coveted residents.
Succumbing to Steve’s net as part of a six-fish catch was the magnificent 56lb 8oz Black Spot, which was backed up by two thirties to 37lb and a trio of twenties.
“With spring most definitely here, I was full of optimism going into my latest session,” admitted Steve.
“There were a lot of fish showing up the deep end, so that’s where I set up. With it being the last night of us being able to use four rods, I opted for two on zigs and two over bait on the deck, one of which was on the marginal shelf to my left. I fished over this spot with a PB pop-up soaked in matching PB Intense Booster, which yielded a stunning 30lb 6oz scaly mirror with an hour of the rod being in the water!
“Both rods my PB rods were baited with pre-soaked and mulched-up Bug boilies, Crayfish Maxi Mix pellets and corn for the colour, over which I added a good amount of Molasses and Bug Liquid Food.
“My two zigs were Candy Sticks pre-soaked in Molasses. For my zigs, I had them set up for morning bites, as strange as that sounds.
“Waking up at 6.15 the next morning, fish were crashing everywhere and I was sitting on my hands waiting. Now came a funny phone call and a memorable event! Firstly, I had an occurrence on one of the zigs, but nothing came of it, so I cast it back out. Before this, I was speaking to a member on the opposite bank about football, as my team, Arsenal, were playing Manchester City later in the day. I said to him I’d take my team losing for a 50-pounder. He laughed and jested how I wanted my team to lose!
“Well, the zig that I recast was only out there 20 minutes before it was off! In fact, it took longer to bring the fish in, as it beasted me, taking out my other lines! Rory netted it and said, ‘Mate, you’ve caught Black Spot!’ It was a beautiful carp and weighed 56lb 8oz, which was a new PB. I was in shock, as it was a moment I’d dreamed of since joining.
“The baited spot I hoped would produce sadly stayed quiet, so I opted for only one rod on the bottom and kept the other two on zigs. The next morning, I had another bite on a zig, which turned out to be the smallest of the session, a mirror of 20lb 8oz.
“Waking up early on the last morning, I decided to reel in the Pink Peril pop-up that had done nothing in open water and cast it to a decent fish that showed four rod-lengths off the margin. However, a few minutes after this, one of the zigs was away! The mornings really were the one! Mick, a fellow member, turned up as I was playing a lovely mirror, which weighed in at 37lb.
“The zig went back out and two hours later it was away again, this time producing a 25lb 9oz mirror. A new member, Josh, who was just down from me, kindly came up to do the photos, but no sooner had I lifted up the fish, the single Pink Peril I had cast out roared off, this one being a linear of 26lb.
“It was a memorable trip and one last will last in the memory bank for sure!”
