Queen Of The Lake

After a 2 hour journey I arrived at the lake on Saturday morning and expected to see many other anglers, I wasn't wrong as only a handful of pegs were remaining! I opted to fish down the shallower end of the lake, which was still deep at 10ft plus, given the high pressure and warmth. Not only that the wind was hacking down that end of the lake and even though it was an easterly wind it just felt right. Whilst setting up I had noticed several fish crashing in open water which quickly made me put a few zigs out, after nothing for several hours of swapping and changing I decided to get ready for the night. I flicked the marker out and noticed it steadily shelved off quickly from 7ft to 16ft+, but at 12ft I noticed a bit of gravel, this area stood out as pretty much everywhere else on the lake bed was soft silt or weed. With my spot chosen I decided to use Ronnie Rigs with 12mm Nash Bait Hot Tuna pop-ups, I made the decision to put a rod at each depth in order to cover more of the lake.

Just before dark the left hand rod in 12ft of water sprung into life and after a quick fight a lovely scaley 18lb mirror graced my net, I managed to get a few shots before slipping her back. I gained a massive confidence boost after catching this fish and knowing it was still early into the night I decided I'd get my head down in hope there would be more fish through the night! 

I woke around 4.45 a.m., it wasn't quite light yet and I had no bleeps through the night. I felt surprised nothing further had happened, not even a liner! I made a brew and sat watching the water, as it started to get lighter I saw several shows, boshes and rolls from carp. This was a great sign as I knew they was out there moving around even though it had been a cold night and there was a light frost was on the ground. Within a blink of an eye the left hand rod melted away again, the clutch was ripping fast, I lifted the rod and I was in! The fish took a quick lunge to the depths but I put the brakes on, I had also noticed the lead had dropped which was in my favour. The fish started kiting to my left towards the weed using big powerful kicks, it wasn't easy to gain control but eventually after a 20 minute battle a big head and shoulders broke the surface. It was then I realised it was a big girl, my heart beat rose and my knees started to shake! The dreaded hook pull went through my mind as I reeled her towards the net, then bang she was in the net! I didn't fully realise the shear size of her until I peeled back the net, WOW was my first thought! Big scales, a huge fan like tail, she was immense. 

A few local anglers came from further down the bank to verify. 'Thats her!' The first words I heard, I couldn't believe I had caught the queen of the lake. She tipped the scales round to a colossal weight of 45lb 8oz, a new lake record. What a truly epic session!