Well respected Southampton slayer David Meek had a perfect early Christmas present at the weekend on only his second visit to a new venue. Here Dave tells the story of what was a very memorable winter session. Well done Meeky!
‘I arrived at the lake late Thursday night, I elected to fish a swim that I fished the previous week. A friend had fished in there during the week and he had some success. So it was possible that the carp were still there.
I cast out singles for the night, and as the wind picked up I could hear deep sounding wallows as carp exited the water through the night.
I was up early, so I could position my rods better. Fresh soft ghost hook links were tied up, with CC Moore northern Special wafters. All three drops were crisp. And I set about littering the areas, with xxx chops, and a ground bait mix.
At around 8 in the evening little liners started, mainly on the middle rod. Then a little after 8.30 the middle rod pulled up tight, and plucked out of the clip. Straight away I forced to give line, and after a wrapping of the knuckles from my reel handle I was wondering what was on the end. It beat me up good and proper, and not once did I really feel in control. And if a barracuda was in the net at the end of the battle, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
As I rolled the fish on it’s side in the net, I couldn’t help but chuckle. I bagged her up while I tried to call in a favour for some photos. And soon enough a d&b fuelled van was chugging up the gravel track. We got some lovely night shots, and soon enough I was out in the water watching her waddle home with the right hump.
Dave’s 37lb 4oz Christmas cracker
What a fish to start my new campaign with, at 37.4 she was more than big enough. I followed that up with 2 lovely 20lb + mirrors and a high double. Amazingly they all came to the same rod. And even trying to fish the right hand one closer, failed to produce a bite. Still I’m not complaining’.
For more info on the new ESP Soft Ghost that David uses please follow this link:
esp-carpgear.com/news/new-and-improved-soft-ghost-is-back/