THE SPECIAL “40”

I first got into the syndicate I’m fishing now by accident really because it all started with a bet with a mate who was on this big windswept 70acre pit in Northampton (which I cant name  because of a publicity ban)  The bet started of as a bit of banter between anglers which ended with him telling me it was a hard water and he would take any bet that I couldn’t catch one of the  two known 40s out of there and me being an idiot I found myself shaking hands with him without even thinking about how big an ask it was! I was secretly hoping that he couldn’t get me a ticket but unfortunately he did and I had 12months to do it with the small matter of £1000 riding on it!        

And so April 1st came around and I found myself staring at massive pit knowing somehow I had to find one of only two fish in a lake I had never even seen before. The first couple of sessions I fished on there were a bit daunting to say the least and predictably resulted in blanks but slowly I was learning the swims and confidence was starting rise. I think I was into my 4th or 5th session when in the middle of the night I had my 1st take on there which resulted in the capture of a 28lb common but to be honest I was gutted because I had been told about these stunning English fish but this one was badly deformed with a bent back,1 eye and a pec missing!  I guess it was a couple of weeks before I got back down there but at least I had found a lovely patch of gravel about 90yds out which I knew fish were feeding on all be it probably the ugliest fish I had ever seen! I quickly found the spot again and before long 2 rods were out there with just a handful of boilies with them, the 3rd rod I decided to put right in the middle of a weed bed in the margin just to edge my bets plus I didn’t want

too many lines running out into the swim.

It rained solid for 48hrs that session and to be honest I had just about had enough and thought to myself as soon as the rain eases off I would quickly pack up. Finally it stopped raining about 11am so by 11.30am the bivvy was down and in the van. I was just about to fold the bedchair up when I had a couple of sharp bleeps and as I turned round to have a look what was happening it turned into a 1 toner and I was in!  As soon as I picked the rod up I knew it was a decent fish but then I realised I had already packed my chesties away

First blood

which you needed in the swim because it was quite shallow so I knew straight away I was going paddling! Before long I was waist deep in the water with a lovely common in the net which turned out to be just over 32lb. I knew there was somebody in the swim next to me so I weighed the fish then decided to put it in a sling for a minute while I went to fetch someone to take some photos for me as it was my 1st *proper* fish from there.

I was soon holding a stunning fish up for the camera and just as I put it into the sling to carry it back to the water 1 of the other rods absolutely tore off but before I could get the fish out of the sling it suddenly stopped so straight away I thought it had done me so I just took my time returning the common. After a couple of minutes it swam away so I turned my attention to the rod  that had been ripping just thinking I would reel it in and pack away but as I lifted the rod I felt a bump as I tightened the line then all of a sudden it went berserk taking about 100yds of line of me!  After about half an hour I finally started to get it back and before long I could see it was a catfish which shocked me because I didn’t know there was any in there but I’ve since found out there are two in there and the one I had was the smallest about 50lb!  I’ve caught a lot of cats on the Ebro so I really didn’t want to net it and photo it so I just chinned it and unhooked it in the water then let it go!  I was now soaked through and freezing cold but a very happy angler was putting the rods away when would you believe it the 3rd rod started to bleep slowly but purposely and I was in again! I knew straight away this was a good fish it jus slowly pondered up and down the margin then finally it surfaced about 15yds from me and immediately my heart was in my mouth this was

a very big fish but I had a problem, when it surfaced it shot back down head first into a weed bed and it was locked up solid! I waded out as far as I could up to my chest but I was still about 4ft short of reaching the fish then I heard a couple of anglers that were watching me from the bank shouting be careful there’s a drop-off there but I had already made my mind up I was going for it! I walked out up to my neck then quickly dropped the rod and lunged for it, I couldn’t believe it went straight into the net and I found myself walking back to the bank with the net dragging the rod behind it but I couldn’t of cared less about the rod I had got the fish!!! When I opened the net I knew it was 1 of the fish I was after and after weighing it it went 43.8lb a stunning mirror.

Hard works reward

Now what a lot of people didn’t know was my work partner who I had worked all over the country with for the past 10yrs was very ill at home battling a brain tumour and the 1st call I had to make about my capture was to him because he knew how much this fish meant to me. Sadly when I phoned him his wife answered the phone and informed me he had passed away only half an hr ago so as you can imagine I was devastated. I think it was about a week later that afew of the lads off the lake phoned me and informed me they had been through all the photos and my fish was an unknown fish so I had the honour of naming it so I had to name it after my pal (CHRISSIE) and to this day it has never been caught again.

BE LUCKY SCOTT ROWSON