A YORKSHIRE GEM
15th September 2020
Lewis Spencer banks one of the finest from Yorkshire using the Manilla & Bloodworm range, with the capture of, Baz at 51lb 4oz!
When targeting such a historic fish such as Baz, the lake is always going to receive a lot of pressure in the form of anglers, so when you’re the lucky captor of the fish you’ve wanted for so long, you really do feel on cloud 9 when it happens!
Lewis takes up the story as it unfolded:
“I arrived on Monday the 31st of August and to my surprise, it was a rather quiet lake. With me predominantly being a weekend angler, I’m not used to sights of free space when it comes to waters! With the approaching moon phase and previous history of the carp doing a capture around this time, I knew it was worth a few days off work in pursuit.
“There were three angLers already on and set up, and one of them was unfortunately fishing the swim I’d been secretly trickling bait in over the past month or so, typical, but… he was due to pack away which did leave me with the option at least. Whilst he got himself sorted, I decided to go for a look regardless, as the fish may be hiding somewhere else. There was a set of pads to the left and I’d been bating these pretty regularly, hoping the fish would oblige with the feed I’d been giving them over time but with recent oxygen levels being very low, temporary aerators had been installed which actually meant I couldn’t fish one of these areas due to the pumps. Gutted!
The Manilla range worked wonders for Lewis Spencer as he finally caught Baz, the fish he'd been after for so long!
“Regardless, I continued to bait up the spots and keep my routine of introducing a mixture of Manilla, Bloodworm Pellet, Cloudy Manilla and peanuts for when I could return to the areas. It was at this point I realised I could actually fish the area, just from a different angle and peg if I got it right. With that, I set up in peg 16, flossed my trusty homemade Manilla cork ball pop ups on and flicked the rods out onto the bait in the hope this was going to be the session to remember.
“The night passed uneventful and rather quiet, I didn’t see much in the way of shows and by 10am, I’d reeled in and was on the hunt to find them. Despite my efforts to locate them over a six-hour period, I only managed to spot the ghosty which does hang around with the big man, not too far away from where I was. With nothing else to change my mind on location, I flicked the rods back out onto the spots, along with a little top up of Manilla from the peg. Fishing slack lines on such a pressured water was a must for me, so as I let the line settle through the water column without the bobbins clipped, it must’ve only been five minutes after the recast that I found one was way tighter… a carp was on!
“The battle commenced in and around the pads, real heart-wrenching stuff. It was doing everything in its power to do me in some way shape or form but I eventually got the upper hand and with that, a huge dog-like head surfaced in front. Surely not…It was him! I bundled him into the net along with a ball of lily’s and shouted at the top of my voice!
“I got straight onto the phone and my old friend Simon Batty came down to do the honours with the camera. A 12-man strong team gathered to witness the shots and moment and share the buzz of a true history fish for the region. Thanks to all those guys for the memories, it’ll be a day that stays with me for a long time indeed!
