18 June 2016 – Catch Report from: Bob & friends

A good week’s fishing for this new group with multiple 30’s to 38lbs+ and two cats over 70lbs.

This week we had the pleasure of welcoming a group of lads from London on their first trip to the venue. They got off to a flying start banking the sturgeon and an upper twenty on the first night but by Monday they hadn’t added to this score which was surprising. I spent some time with Bob and after a quick chat made a few technical adjustments to his rigs which did work but unfortunately Bob never managed to actually land anything of any size for one reason or another. Our fish are very smart and once hooked will fight extremely hard. They are masters of their own world and will expose any weakness in technique or tackle. Bob found out the hard way but he did assure me he had a good holiday. Steve fared better and after a little joy in point ‘A’ moved to the home swim and caught a new PB of 30lbs+ on one of our readymade rigs. I caught up with Steve on Wednesday and we went through a whole load of stuff including knot testing, rig tying, hook sharpening and baiting strategies. Bob went on to bank three more carp to 38lbs+ over the next 24hrs but didn’t get another bite after that. His son Scott dreamed of catching his first 30 but it wasn’t to be this time. He still banked a mid twenty and the sturgeon which was one of his target fish.

Meanwhile Jake cleaned up from the big double landing nine in total with cats to 81lbs and multiple 30’s. He did lose a few on size 8 hooks which I strongly advise against as they are simply not strong enough especially when the cats are active. I’ve had size 6 wide gapes open out on me while playing  an upper twenty when I’ve needed to apply the brakes as they power off towards the tip of the island. Rig wise, Jake went for a stiff hinge rig and fished over large spreads of our Nutty Banoffee baits. By topping up well after each fish, the runs just kept coming. Jake hand sharpens every hook, every cast and the difference it made was clear. Nice work!