Myles Gibson talks about his return to the Snaggy Pit after the first Lockdown, which saw him hit massive heights and unfortunately deep lows!
Myles Gibson talks about his return to the Snaggy Pit after the first Lockdown, which saw him hit massive heights and unfortunately deep lows!
Just like everyone else, when that first Lockdown hit the UK, I was gutted! Anyone who knowns me knows how much fishing means to me and to put it on the back burner for two months was really difficult. I never sorted my gear out; I properly lost the buzz with not being able to get out angling. Eventually though, the clouds parted, and like a lot of others, as soon as we were able to, I was straight back out with the gear, Snaggy Pit bound!
I loved that first trip down there, it was super atmospheric but despite my best efforts, I came back empty handed. Well, apart from a tench! The bloody thing gave me a proper scare, totally out the blue and I ended up getting soaked only for our red eyed friend to turn up in the margins shortly afterwards. Typical!
When I arrived for my second trip, it was really looking good. The lake had done a few bites, the weather had warmed up a hell of a lot and all of my pre-bait from the week before had gone. Going on what had been seen in the week, I dropped in on a particular passing point, which was normally choked with weed. For some reason it was now almost devoid, plus the fish seemed to like it as well. I put the rods out with very little fuss, the first went on a bar that doesn’t actually do that many fish, but it is too good of a spot to ignore. My other two were placed close to the famous snags, with one of those going on a very clean bit of bottom that had clearly been recently polished. I sat back that night with a huge amount of confidence!
Sure enough, first light came and one of the snag rods was away! As always, I had a tense battle, but eventually won the day with lovely classic Dink strain mirror. It was such a mega carp, and it was very angry too, it croaked like one of those American catfish whilst it bristled all its fins.
“A MEGA CARP WHICH CROAKED LIKE AN AMERICAN CATFISH WHILST IT BRISTLED ALL OF ITS FINS!”
“A MEGA CARP WHICH CROAKED LIKE AN AMERICAN CATFISH WHILST IT BRISTLED ALL OF ITS FINS!”
I repositioned the rig and baited with another load of mix. With the birds being so prevalent, I used a mixture of small items; crumbed Krill boilies, pellets, hemp and tigers. The birds have to work really hard to eat smaller food items, rather than single boilies and such like, so the mix suited the situation perfectly. Over the top I couldn’t get away with my usual bright hookbait, the birds were just too relentless. I had to use a balanced tiger nut, just to make sure it wasn’t picked up constantly and would resist the attention of a bird’s beak too.
I had to wait for the following morning for another chance, when sure enough the bobbin cracked the rod again on one of the snag rods. As I got up, the bobbin settled back down, so I checked the braid in my fingers just to make sure something was on the end. Bang, another pullback! I was in, or so I thought! I went on to wind in the rig completely done, the lead was gone, and I wasn’t a happy man. I am never satisfied when a carp has one over on me, so I went straight back in with a straight pointed hook and longer shrink tube kicker, just hoping to hook the next one that bit better.
On the penultimate morning of my trip, I received another bite from the same spot. As always, it was savage, with braid being wrenched from the spool even though it was as tight as I could get it! Another hairy battle later and yet again a classic mirror for the lake was sat in the folds of my net. Whilst redoing the rods the previous day, I moved the other snag rod onto the same spot, as it seemed it was doing all the action. As this rod was still in play, I felt another bite was well on the cards and sure enough, I was right!
The second rod on the spot trundled off, which resulted in a nice contrast to the mirror, a really dumpy common. I was left with no rods on the productive spot and I am convinced had I put a third on it, that would have gone too. A pack of fish must have come in and cleaned me out! This was all but confirmed when I eventually towed the rigs back out there as the spot was polished.
I had to be super careful placing the rigs this time as the weather had changed massively. It was super windy, and a low-pressure front was moving in for the kill. It couldn’t have looked more prime for a bite if it tried! With no action coming through the day, I got some much-needed sleep and let the weather roll in.
I woke to what I thought was a savage liner on the same spot again, or potentially a bird pick up. I got to the rod and held the braid and it pulled up again, it was game on! Straight away the fish did the exact opposite of the others and kited hard to the left. I could do nothing about it, I was a passenger to the situation unfolding in front of me; this was the moment, I was attached to a big one, a real big one! With the braid singing in the wind, everything went slack, it was game over. The leader had snapped of all things and even though I was used to the pit’s savage nature, this one hurt, it really did! After all the effort I put into that session, to hook a better one and then lose it was absolutely gut-wrenching. All I could do was pack up and look forward to my next visit.
"As they say, you cannot have life’s highs if you don’t experience the lows as well."
"As they say, you cannot have life’s highs if you don’t experience the lows as well."
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