A special old carp
Tom White is pursuing some lovely old Leney’s at a local venue and he’s had his first one of the year…
‘These old originals are anywhere between 40 and 50 years old and with some not seeing the bank more than once in the last 10 years they definitely know the drill which makes them all well worthy targets, regardless of weight in my opinion.
This one was snared by trickling in small but regular amounts of the KSC food source into a silty gulley where I had seen subtle signs of fish feeding during the 1st hour of light on a couple of occasions. After priming the noted spot three times that week with around a kilo of bait in total. I shot down after work at 3am full of confidence.
Tom opted for the red fishmeal approach
Once in the swim I flicked two rods tightly onto the primed spot followed by around a kilo of the KSC and got my head down sharpish. Around 7:30am I awoke to a single bleep and looked out, sure enough the pin pricks had retuned bang on the money. But not wanting to temp fate and feeling the effect of changing over to the nightshift that week I layed back down for some more shut eye.
No sooner had I rolled over than the RH rod bobbin whacked the blank and the tip arched round towards the spot. I was on it quick and gained control after a few sketchy moments around the pads the fish was soon plodding around under the tip and then ready for the net.
After a tough start in March I was buzzed to get amongst an original at last. And now I hope to keep the ball rolling as the best time of year is upon us with the really rare ones sometimes slipping up still half asleep from the long winter layed up in the snags.
Super reliable – the Cryogen Curve-Shanx
A custom mix of Xcel Baits KSC+ on a Cryogen Curve-Shanx size 4 tied to 6” of semi stiff Tungsten Loaded and several other ESP terminal bits and bobs with 18lb Syncro XT loaded as Mainline’.