Weight: 30lb
Bait: Goldfish
Rig: In-line Lenny special
Date caught: 4th Sep 2007
Location: Woolpack Lake 3 Cambridgeshire United Kingdom

I had been fishing The Spot in the south east corner of the lake for a while and had a few good fish along the way. I knew too that some of the carp I had seen were much bigger than the ones i had so far caught. It’s always nice to get the big ones, the lunkers. They stir the imagination and set you on a course which for some, becomes a pursuit. It had thus become so for me too. I was in pursuit and until i caught the fish i was after i would not give in.

Having only enough time for short day sessions getting spots going was important otherwise i would be spending a lot of fruitless hours fishing barren areas. The bait went in when i was there three days a week and also other days i would drive down to put as much in as i could. This strategy kept the fish visiting the area. Each day between 12 noon and 5.00 pm the carp would be seen visiting the area mopping up the bait.

From high up in the tree over-looking the swim I had the perfect vantage point and could see everything that moved. To be honest you would think that the carp would be a lot more cagey about feeding on the spot since i had already had a few of them off it. But no, they kept coming back day after day.

The run came out of the blue, as  they always do eh. I felt the fish surge out of the swim and go left pulling line off the clutch with ease. Thirty yards out and it kited around to my margin, holding on tight i pumped the fish along the margin to the area out in front of me. Five minutes of hard fighting and it was in the net.

When the scales went around to thirty and stayed there i got the camara out to record it.

Happy days, magic moments.