Early on in the year, myself and my good friend Justin Furzer decided to try a local bait company that seemed to be giving a good account of itself on the North West circuit waters. Viking Baits tigers were the way we decided to go initially and boy did it catch us fish!
I’d had an operation in April so that put an end to it for me for at least 8 weeks, but just before Justin managed one of the larger common’s on the Lymm Angling card at 25+, then again whilst I was in an arm sling, a stunning brace; a fully scaled at 28+and a moonscaled mirror at 21lb 6oz.
Time soon passed and it was time for me to get back out there. Straight from the off we were catching carp every time we were out with Justin again catching another stunner, a scrappy hard fighting 20 ghost common. During this time we had become close to the owner of the bait company, Mike Quinn and we were soon asked to join the team. We immediately decided to try the test bait along with the HNV crab and plum and to also look bigger.
A trip to Baden Halls Quarry lake was decided on. We’d had a handfull of nights the previous year and I’d managed a couple of takes, but unfortunately, lost them both in the weed. Our first away trip of the year and Justin managed three fish, a high double lean common, a 20lb mirror and a plump common just shy of 24lb. It seemed that I was spending too much time at the wrong side of the camera! Nightfall came and again I dropped two fish in the heavy weed and foggy conditions. Talk about frustrating! I put it down to basic 25mm chod rigs and possibly being a little ring rusty.
Our next visit to Baden resulted in awful conditions, but I did manage a high double mirror off the surface. Next came the Viking Baits 48 hour charity fish in.
September arrived and I decided to go back to the quarry. Another 48 hours and finally with a tweak to the rigs, hook size finely sharpened and adding a 2 inch combi bungee, landed a stunning 27lb 10oz common.
Whilst packing down, the sun was high and the wind was all but gone, so I made a short stop at a local 6 acre lake for a spot of surface fishing. We managed to catch a couple too, a 15lb common and a 22lb 12oz mirror. Happy days, things seemed to be looking better. A phone call to Justin and another trip was booked for Sunday 12th October.
On Friday 10th, the weather took a turn for the worse; temperatures dropped as did the wind. On Saturday night, fearing the worst, I rang Justin. It can be tough whilst working for a company full time to find the perfect conditions and a day ticket venue that’s not busy. After a long phone call and some convincing that the weatherman was right and that the weather was going to change for the better, he persuaded me to stick with it and take a chance.
We arrived at 9a.m. and couldn’t see beyond 40 yards for the fog so spotting was going to be tough. It was cold and damp and the lake was busy with only three swims left, one of which was peg 10 which I really fancied as nobody had been in it all weekend. Luckily the anglers were leaving that morning so at least we had options. The fog cleared and after four hours of searching for signs of fish, we opted for pegs 9 and 10 which sat south facing with a south-easterly breeze blowing across to our right. After a quick mark of the swim I decided to fish at short range 20 and 25 yards in a silty patch in front of the weed. With the weather being as it was, I chose to fish lightly with approximately 30 baits per rod making the decision to move easier if we saw fish elsewhere. The first rod was armed with a bungee/combi chod along with the test bait and the second with an adjustable helicopter snowman baited with the crab and plum in 10, 14 and 18mm. Not much to tell of the day, there were signs of fish in front of me, but they were showing in an area in between two anglers fishing opposite one another not too far away. Nightfall came with no luck, but the wind had switched to a cold north-easterly away to the far corner.
Awake at 6 a.m. with brew in hand, I saw the first fish of the morning roll twice smack bang in the middle of my two spots. 15 minutes later, the same again. Time passed with promise and soon Roy Russell was lakeside doing his rounds. We stood and chatted for 20 minutes or so and watched a couple of shows over the left area at 25 yards then a large dark mirror straight after. Roy wished us luck and went on his way, he had fish to tend to in the stock pond that he’d hatched in the summer.
It was 9:40 a.m. and Roy had not driven 150 yards when the slack line on my left hand rod pulled tight. I lifted into something that really wasn’t very happy and it stripped 50 yards from my clutch instantly. After 10 minutes I could see the fish in front of me clearly confirming what we were both thinking. “It’s a good ‘un!” The net went under. “Get in!” Justin took a look first and looked back at me. “Special fish mate.” Ensuring the fish was safe, lying on the mat, sling zeroed and round they went. “Wow, really?” The wind wasn’t helping and we couldn’t get an accurate reading so we took shelter. After six or seven weigh-in’s, we settled on 44lb 12oz, beating my personal best by 3lb, a new Viking Baits UK PB and of course, a new PB mirror for the Baden Hall complex. After a handful of photos the fish was returned safely to the water giving me time to reflect.
A very special fish and who better to catch it with and where better to catch it. Justin, a good friend and a great angler too. Baden Hall, a great fishery brilliantly run and bailiffed by none other than Mr Roy Russell.
A special memory and a thank you to all who have shared it with me.