‘A wonderfully plated high twenty’
David Meek has enjoyed a couple of red letter sessions over the last couple of weekends, at the same time putting some new ESP Cryogen hook prototypes through their paces, which have performed very well indeed.
‘It’s been a manic couple of trips. Resulting in much slime and much aching of the arms. Everything seems to be sitting quite well at the moment. I do really enjoy summer fishing, sure the weather can be changeable but if you get your methods right your fishing can become very consistent.
‘My favourite swim’
With a couple of buckets containing the ‘mix of doom’, my barrow was pushed down the greener paths. The first trip I pitched up in my favourite swim. I had a quick check with the lead just to see how clean the spots were that I did so well from last summer. Sure enough the lead came back with fresh scrapes and dings indicating that the spots were still crisp enough to present rigs. Three simple d rigs tied with the new hooks that I had been given to test were flung out onto my chosen areas.
As expected like clockwork in the wee hours of the morning (2.30) one of the rods signalled a take. After a very spirited tussle a wonderfully plated high twenty was laying in the deep margins. After getting the rod back out, just over two hours later another rod was away. This time with a low thirty common. Which had clearly emptied out in the recent spawning. I decided to do a ‘selfie’ of the common as it would not settle.
The low thirty common
The following afternoon, with a fresh bucket of ‘doom’ deposited in the swim and I settled in for the night. Once again the following morning brought an flurry of activity resulting in three 20b mirrors. A few hours later I packed up a very happy slimy young (ish) man. I knew that I could have possibly had a couple more if there was more bait in the swim.
The following weekend, and my barrow is trundling down the path to a swim directly opposite the swim I pitched up in the week before. I had seen a few ‘cruisers’ and a few ‘millers’ so I was happy with my choice knowing that they would drift out in the night. Crisp drops vibrated up the blank as three d rigs were fanned out over the swim. All at the same distance but different positions.
A lovely mid-twenty
First light and the middle rod signals a take, after a short while I found I was attached to a tench. I gently unhooked him in the edge. Nothing more occurred. A quick detour to Red Hot Richies for some floater components and I was getting a sun tan whilst not really having much luck with the surface endeavour. So come 5pm I re-did the bottom rods and settled down for the evening. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise, and within a few moments my right hand rod was pulling down. Soon a lovely mid twenty was in the net waiting for his pics.
Another stunning mid-twenty
Whilst I was trying to take another selfie with a carp, my middle rod was in a blur, so I gently returned the mirror and picked up the rod. I had only been playing the fish for a few moments when my left hand rod was also away. So all I could do was loosen the clutch and let it run, there were no anglers on the lake so it wasn’t going to wipe anyone out. I played the fish out and soon had a low twenty common in the net. On picking up the last rod, it was solid which was to be expected, but I got him moving. After maybe five minutes the line fell slack, the fish had gone. It seemed like the line may have cut on something. I slipped the common back without any pictures as it was all a bit too manic.
Two rods down – the result of some frenetic action!
About an hour later one of the two repositioned rods was signalling a take, maybe three minutes into the battle and the remaining rod was away would you believe it. So all I could was lose the clutch and let it run. The first bite turned out to be a high double mirror. The other rod was picked up and a lovely mid twenty mirror was landed.
All in all a very good couple of trips. So with the new hooks I’ve had 10 bites with 9 landed and the one that was lost was down to a cut off. All the fish I landed were excellent hook holds so I have great confidence in these. Lovely times!’