He revealed:

“Arriving on Friday, I endured a complete blank that evening with no signs of fish activity anywhere to be seen in the swim. However, Saturday arrived and early doors I noticed fish showing opposite me in an occupied swim, so I wound in and had a wonder round. After a quick chat with the fella, he informed me he was leaving by early afternoon! A real bonus I thought, it was a chance to move onto some fish!

“Off I went back to my swim before packing up and barrowing round behind the swim awaiting matey to do the off. Luckily, I got in my swim of choice before the winds really starting belting in! With the bivvy up and the rods out to a deep spot I knew of at 80 yards, I was confident.

“I went in with Manilla Yellow Ones Pop-Ups on my trusted Hinge rigs, but just as I got my third rod out, I noticed a fish roll over my spot! Due to the clear activity, I decided to put a halt to proceedings and not spomb out any bait for 30 minutes, just in case. As no bites occurred to the singles, I got the bait out, all be it only five midi spombs of Manilla crumb. It turned out to be the right choice, as within 20 minutes the right-hand rod was away which lead to a mint 22lb 8oz stockie, with that in the net, I quickly got the rod back on the spot and the swim topped up with crumb. Just 30 minutes later, the middle rod was away with a 29lb scaly one. By this time the wind had started picking up, so it took me three or four goes at getting the rod out on the spot with absolutely no chance of feeling a drop.

“It took two hours for the next rod to finally go, which turned out to be the biggest at 32lb. No further action came through night, until first thing in the morning. Again, there were fish showing in the area and by 9am the right-hand rod was away with the smallest of the four but very welcome!

“That marked the end of my session, and one I would have been happy with at any time of year, but it was made all the sweeter in February in the middle of a brutal storm.”