Lee Symonds sent us this lovely account of his return to Spitfire Pool in Norfolk in search of its most prized resident, the Wood Common. And what a return it was, well done Lee!
‘I fished Spitfire Pool for the opening week in 2015 and didn’t manage to hook the Wood Common after seeing her clearly in the area & feeding hard. I decided to return for opening week in 2016, starting on Sunday 20th March with a new plan of attack – I decided to move away from my trusted long shank blow back rig to a stiff rig, and there was only one hook I wanted to use, the new ESP Cryogen Stiff Riggers.
So tied up my stiff rigs with a boom made out of Tungsten Loaded semi-stiff choddy silt, on a helicopter set up with the original ESP lead core, I was ready all that was left to do was to tie my washed out pink DT Baits green beast pop-ups on and flick the rods out.
First blood – the cracking 35lb 8oz mirror
I got to the lake Sunday morning and set the traps on the spots I had been pre baiting with cold water green beast, in the same area as I fished the year before, Monday morning came and as I stood watching the water with a cup of coffee, my right hand rod was away, after a short fight I slipped my net under a cracking looking mirror, which pulled the scales round to 35lb 8oz. Buzzing I had banked a fish in the first 24hours!
The Long Common
A couple more days had past, with my cousin banking a repeat capture of the Long Common on the Tuesday evening at a cracking 43lb 8oz.
Wednesday came, still no sight of the Wood Common but I was sure she was around, I decided to move one rod to a spot called the borehole where we had seen movement, with a tight scattering of fresh baits over each rod. Once again the traps were set, then just on dark the moment I was waiting for! Out popped a big commons head about 10 feet from the new spot!
I knew she was there, the night came and went and not a bleep, I decided to leave the rods where they were, then at 1pm on the Thursday afternoon the rod on the borehole pulled tight, I pulled into it and a big common hit the surface, she was on, I slowly pulled back with shaking legs, by this time my cousin Ian was round net in hand, the Wood Common is not known to put up much of a fight luckily and after a short fight she was in the net.
The awesome Wood Common!
I was totally overwhelmed, shaking with joy! I called Rich Wilby who runs the fishery to come over and enjoy the moment with us and take the pictures. We lifted her out of the water and into the cradle, nailed! The size 6 Cryogen Stiff Rigger was nailed in the bottom lip and was never coming out. She pulled the scales round to 49lb 10oz – stunning!’
For more info on the new ESP Cryogen hooks: