Working Mans Club #12 – Josh Bennett

With the success of the previous trip still well and truly in my memory, it wasn’t too long before I returned in the hope of more action. The fish were evident in numbers in an area known as the ‘back pads’. This area was not immediately accessible, but rather, two swims fished the mouth of the entrance to the bay; ‘Walkout’ and ‘Barbel’. It seemed logical, with fish present, to go straight back into ‘Barbel’ and fish the same zones as before. With it now being around midday, I just lobbed some singles out. Andy, a fellow member, had not long moved out of the swim, and I knew there would still be bait out there, so I simply put some wafters over the top. Within an hour, I managed a bite from the left-hand area, and then a few hours later, another fish came from the middle zone. Both were mid 20’s and a real welcome to the coming few days. I had two nights at my disposal, and to start so quickly with daytime bites gave me a huge confidence boost. That night I put 6-12 spombs over each spot. The larger amount went out over the right-hander, whereas I only put six around the left-hander close to the bay. The bait, as always, was a mixture of Heat and Marine, alongside lashings of liquids. I then sprinkled some corn and hemp in the bucket, with a dusting of the new Heat bag mix. This coated the baits nicely and absorbed some of the liquids, too.

By morning, I had managed no further carp overnight. At around 7am, my son arrived and as we sat digging half the bank up with toy tractors, the first of a flurry of action took shape. The middle rod picked up and immediately took a significant amount of line. The weed wasn’t too problematic, but the pads in the bay to the left were thick and hazardous. As the fish composed itself, the line began to cut left at an increasing rate. It was all I could do to hang on and await the first feelings of the dreaded grating sensation. It duly came, and I watched in dismay as the pads began to rock. Steady pressure didn’t work, and with the boat in the swim locked to a post, I slackened off and ran for the life jacket. On my return, I prepared the boat before lifting the rod. I clamped down and just fancied one more steady pull before committing to the water. As I did, the fish bolted and came directly towards me. Winding furiously, I caught up with the fish and began guiding it towards the swim.

My son grabbed the net and we stood readied at the front of the boat jetty. As the fish surfaced, I knew immediately how big it was. This would be the biggest fish Riley had ever seen, and by some way. We both stayed silent as it neared, and as I instructed him with the net, we both lifted as hard as we could with outstretched arms. The fish was ours and the embrace we had that morning I’ll remember for a long while. As I took to a knee to be at his level, we held a net arm each and just smiled at each other, marvelling at what we had just caught. It was such a special moment. I secured the fish and, in typical fashion, got the rod straight out. As I was preparing to do so, the right-hand rod took to life, and another carp was hooked. This fight was much more straightforward, and again, Riley took to the netting. With two rods now replaced, the final fish of the morning came just moments after a recast. By now, with two nets and a sling full, I needed help. Nipping next door, a kind member called Ian helped with the weighing and photos. The smaller of the fish were both 20lb plus fish and although beautiful in their own right, I was dying to see what I suspected may be the biggest fish in the lake. The sling was opened to reveal ‘Tyson’ and at 44lb it was indeed the current biggest known fish in the lake. It was a huge weight for it, very unexpectedly, but we verified it and took to the water again for some return photos.

The remainder of the day fell quiet, and around late afternoon, I rebaited and hoped tomorrow morning would again be prolific. Riley had enjoyed the day so much that he returned the next day, and as we sat awaiting action, I half wondered whether things would develop again. I shouldn’t have wondered at all, as around 9 am, almost as if a carbon copy of the previous day the fish started. It was chaos in the swim with rods going here, there and everywhere. A really manic couple of hours culminated in another slow bite from the middle rod. Again, the fish felt heavy, but this time didn’t do a great deal, it just wallowed; synonymous of a big fish fight. It surfaced, and again, I knew almost immediately which fish it was. It was all so straightforward; it went into the net with no problems at all, and ‘3 Scale’ was soon sulking in the sling. I really couldn’t believe how the session was going, and I had to sing another night with my wife.

The afternoon went quiet again and I took the opportunity to rest the swim. I dropped Riley off at home, replenished supplies and got back just prior to dark. The rods went out so perfectly and surprisingly whilst eating dinner, I received my sole evening take during the session, from a nice upper twenty mirror called ‘Crazy Scales’. The night was again quiet and I sat the following morning confident something would happen. Again, with a little surprise, the right hand rod this time bucked into life and an upper twenty common was landed. Quickly getting the rod back out, it was 20 minutes or so before it went again. After this, the action seemed to die and I began to pack down slowly. With only two fish that morning, I felt the fish were starting to wise up, especially so with action only coming to the right hand rod. Somehow I had amassed 13 fish in three nights. It was simply incredible angling and no doubt a session I will remember for a very long time.