'Opening Week' Captures Special
We look back at some of the Mainline Team's most memorable 'opening week' captures from years gone by
1. TOM DOVE
June can be a funny month as it’s normally when spawning happens, so I’m always keen to know if they’re already finished or not. In this case they were so I could go a little heavier on the bait. 10mm Cell and tiger nuts placed perfectly on a shallow area resulted in this gorgeous fully scaled!
2. DAVE LANE
I cannot even think of June sessions without the king of them all coming straight to the forefront of my mind, for it was at the latter end of this month in 2014 that the Burghfield Common slipped into my net. This beast fell a foul of a decent bed of bait in the right area during that magical spell at first light. So, don’t be too eager to rush off with the floaters, make sure you take advantage of the early morning feed up first.
3. AARON COPP
When I think about June, I automatically link that with the arrival of summer and carp spending more of their time in the edge. The capture of this 37lb 5oz scattered linear on Cell is a memorable one because a margin sighting a couple of hours earlier led to the opportunity.
4. IAN ‘CHILLY’ CHILLCOTT
Late spring and early summer can be a difficult time, the angling pressure is normally at its highest. However, I continued to introduce my ever-consistent Mainline boilies over that period, and 3kg of 15mm Hybrid accounted for this 43lb 5oz Cotswolds Water Park monster!
5. DARRELL PECK
One of my favourite June captures was this 51lb common from 2014. I had fished hard through May and June at Burghfield but towards the end of June I had to go to Belgium to film a Korda Masterclass. Before we had arrived, my phone signalled a message and low and behold Dave Lane had caught the Burghfield Common. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little wounded by this news but catching this fish 30 minutes after arriving certainly lessened the blow!
6. ADAM REED
This particular capture from June last year was memorable for many reasons. In short, the fight from this fish was nothing short of insane! After a really long battle the fish ended up 15yds out but heavily weeded up. With no one about I had no choice but to strip off and walk out to my waist in the pouring rain. Eventually I bundled it into the net and a June 40lb common was mine.
7. NEIL SPOONER
Some captures just stick in your head and this is certainly one of them. Emily and I spent a night on a new venue with little to show for our efforts. I had a couple of liners and upon inspection the fish were literally under my rod tips. I let the fish drift off before lowering a small Chod Rig amongst the silkweed with a yellow Pineapple Juice pop-up for a hookbait and three crumbed Cell boilies over the top. An hour later the water erupted and this big twenty that my daughter, for some reason, named ‘Spongebob’, was the culprit! Great summertime memories!
