
UNDOUBTEDLY MY BEST UK SESSION EVER!
Gavin Alcock was left speechless in the aftermath of his first session of 2024, after bagging himself two February forties and a 37-pounder as part of a seven-fish catch.
The 47-year-old experienced his red-letter session on the Gaunts Lake syndicate at Linear Fisheries, where he landed fish of 42lb 11oz, 42lb 1oz and 37lb 8oz on the final morning of his 48-hour stay, much to his amazement.
“Never could I have imagined how my first 48-hour session of 2024 would unfold,” admitted Gav.
“Arriving at the lake on dark wasn’t ideal, and after a quick walk round I didn’t have much to go on, other than I knew of an area that produced a few days ago. A few casts with my Deeper confirmed a few likely looking spots, so out went 10 Spombs of my usual Bug boilies soaked in Bug Hydro Spod Syrup. I opted to fish two rods on the spot and one to my left. With the traps set, I jumped into bed knackered, as it was gone midnight!
“I was looking forward to getting my head down for the night, but it seemed the fish had other ideas!
“Two hours later, the middle rod burst into life. I honestly thought it was a tench, but it turned out to be a beautiful fully scaled stockie of about 6lb. Well, at least I haven’t blanked, I thought!
“An hour later, the right-hand rod was away with a nice-looking upper double on the end. With the rod back out and the spot topped up, I headed back to my warm bed.
“The morning passed with a further two fish going 21lb and 23lb. I definitely thought they were on me now! However, the second night passed without anything else to show, which made me a little despondent considering the earlier action, but I put this down to the heavy rainfall all night and the change in wind direction.
“I was starting to think that was it for this trip when my Delkim burst into life at 9am! As the rod hooped over and my braid stripped from the reel, I thought this had to be a good one. After a short battle, she slid over the net cord and I could see it was definitely a good upper thirty.
“With the sling zeroed, I hoisted her up on my scales, which gave a reading of 42lb 11oz – I was blown away! A winter forty and my first out of Gaunts! Wasting no time, I got the rod back on the spot and unbelievably the other rod was away not long after, yielding another decent fish at 37lb 8oz. I topped up the spot, recast the rod and sat on my bedchair to take in what had just happened, when the recast rod sprung into life – unbelievable! Straight from the off, I knew it was a decent one and it weeded me solid multiple times, but with persistence I got her to the net engulfed in a ball of weed. I literally could not believe what I was looking at, another good fish and my second forty in the space of a few hours, this time going 42lb 1oz. Undoubtedly my best UK session ever; I’m still lost for words.”
All of Gavin’s fish gave themselves up to trimmed-down 15mm PB pop-ups on Ronnies, which he fished over 15mm Bug boilies and corn, all soaked in Bug Hydro Spod Syrup.