Now I realise I haven’t put pen to paper for a very very long time and to be honest its only really in the last few weeks that I have felt that a written piece was needed to portray the huge range of emotions I have felt in the last few weeks bankside and at home.

As you read this I am currently nursing my new-born son , Mason, and I have been blown away by the comments and likes etc. from friends all around the globe but none more so than tem within the angling community. As some of you know I have taken the huge leap into the “trade” of fishing by starting up my own company and trying to make something of it. Since taking this risk I have been blown away by the support of my fellow man and indeed the calls, texts and messages I had from them on the birth of Mason really reinstated my faith in human kind. Anyway we digress.

The reason I had to write this is as some of you that pay attention to what myself and Ethan have been up to I felt a written article could explain it better than being boring in front of camera.

We have been targeting a local day ticket to us that is renowned as probably wales’ busiest day ticket and with a big girl of 44 plus lbs. and some back up 30s and a huge head of upper doubles to 20s its easy to see why in our generally fish starved area. We have been taking opportunities as much as possible to fish together as we were fishing the Welsh Carp Championships together but also we do enjoy a good ole giggle on the bank. Ethan and my approach to a water in tactics is very similar but as regards targets is very chalk and cheese. I love catching fish any size and any shape as long as generally well looked after and obviously the prettier the better whereas Ethan specifically wants to catch the big girl and move on. We have been fishing this lake now since the first week of January and have been doing reasonably well with only 4 blanks between us both in countless sessions from day sessions to 3 day stints. With fish up to 29 lb. falling to the net and some real cracking upper 20s we have been doing well unfortunately a 30 or indeed “the one” Hand job has eluded us both but we are now ramping up our efforts. I am now happy that I have a feel for the lake and have caught enough fish to allow me to target the big girl. This written piece is going to sort of be a diary entry to run along side our video blogs to document things that if we talked about them in the blogs would frankly bore ya tits off.#

My mission to catch Hand job really only started two sessions ago when I had come to the realisation that I hadn’t accidently tripped her up in all the sessions we had done and she had eluded anglers since March of this year so was probably going to be a good weight in the next few months and was due to come out.

Luckily knowing a few people that have had the fish in question I have slowly started to change my tactics and approach and indeed the areas of the lake I was fishing. Now please please don’t think this is going to be a convoluted piece of vitriolic rubbish claiming I’m fishing a super hard 120 acre pic with 9 fish that are all proper ones because I aint. I am fishing a lake that affords me time to be a working , family and indeed angling man. Its a pretty place set in the welsh valleys and after a recent reshaping, trimming and replanting project undertaken by the owners is a stunning little setting 30 minutes from my door with a chance of a bend in the rod and that bend could end up being a biggie.

Now as I said I have been doing some homework and between Ethan and myself we have formulated a plan of action regards how to approach the water in pursuit of the bigger fish. Two sessions ago we decided to fish the swim where she was last caught purely as a place to fish together put our heads together and also be in a place we know she last visited. With White Springs being a busy day ticket we have to almost pre plan what we need to do taking into account the weather, angling pressure and how perhaps to know where the fish are. To be honest we have been incredibly lucky on the lake in that we have managed to have a few options to move if needed and these have resulted in turning sessions around but to target Hand job we feel a concerted effort in 1 or 2 areas, that we know she frequents, is going to be key.

The first session where the target was in mind we set up on the soil shed, an omen swim of mine being the only swim I had blanked in. The session was very much a tale of two halves. Ethan’s half fished its nuts off with 6 or 7 fish including a few 20s coming in where for 40 hours my swim was like a baron wasteland with not even a beep for my efforts. However as the second morning woke and the mist lifted I had a single beep on my left rod, that had been cast locked up to the set of pads, only for me to come out and find the rod and reel had been pulled in. Now after a frantic moment of casting to try and catch the line we managed to bank the rod. I allowed my heart rate to go to normal again but as I sat on my bed chair and the sun broke through I couldn’t help but wonder what had had the might to rip all my gear off the stand, bare in mind there are no cats or bigger on this lake. I have had many locked up runs and simply the action has been taken up by the rod and the line stretch does the work.

This single beep was the catalyst for the craving for the bigger ones. The mystery of some ” missing ” big girls and of course hand job had created the stir.

As I awaited my next session all I could think of was an opportunity lost and to be honest no knowledge gained, which griped me . Ethan and myself returned to the water the next week and after a little wander decided to try a peg we had never fished but yet again a place our target was known to be caught from. To cut a long story short on our first morning after a eventless night yet again I had a single beep. As we both got to the rod it was arced round and the 3.5T/C rod was locked out. I picked up the rod and immediately felt something was different. The curve remained in the rod and there was simply zero movement. The fish plodded forward, the arch of the rod locked solid. No head movement, none of the familiar tip bouncing associated with white springs’ smaller residents. we both stood silently gazing at each other as we watched the rod hoop over and this mass plod toward us. whatever it was tip toed within a meter of the bank and held on the bottom. I gained a small  amount of line but couldn’t get the leader to the top. What seemed like hours passed, the rod flexed the reel locked. Next all I can remember seeing was the pink S2T pop up come to the surface closely followed by an ejected rig and a swirl the size of a 4X4 bonnet from at least 3 foot deep. We both looked at each other and said ” that was bigger”.

Now you all maybe thinking what a useless story you didn’t catch her but as I said at the start this is the HUNT for hand job. These two occurrences in as many sessions have sparked a part of me that, for those that know me, has never really existed. I am now locked in a mental battle with this fish and I am now on the hunt.

This story may never have an ending it may always be a tale of the quest but for me that’s what angling is. Angling is the never ending quest for something, something that only exist as your target. Angling is a personal quest that even though your surrounded by others it means the world to you.

I will keep you up to date as our quest moves into autumn and winter and hopefully between us we will lure her out. Until then dream of your dream.