Chris revealed:

“In my head, I was finished on Dinton this year, I hadn’t caught everything, far from it in fact, but I wanted to concentrate my efforts elsewhere. Of course, over the time I have fished there, I have made a few friends and as such I decided to pop in on my way to my new venture, which wasn’t too far away.

“I wondered around the well-trodden paths, passed numerous dog walkers and members of the public before stopping off for a chat and cuppa with a few lads. Whilst weaving in and out of people, the almost primal instinct anglers seem to have didn’t switch off! Even though I had no intention of fishing the complex, I still couldn’t stop myself from looking at the water. Whilst doing so, I spotted several fish, but they didn’t tempt me and before long I was back in the car on the way to the other lake.

“I arrived to find the whole place stitched up! Not the best start to a campaign as all! I wasn’t best pleased and rather than slot in between people on there, with Dinton only back down the road, I turned around and got back to the old stomping ground. Luckily, the swim I saw the activity in beforehand was free, so there was no need to waste any more time, I got set up straight in there!

“The rods went out perfectly, right in the zone where the fish were. I opted to use Manilla Active both whole and crumbed up as I had been putting a bit in a few weeks previous, and over the top, I fished a balanced out Mulbz pop-up.

“The night went by very quickly, but the rods remained motionless. The fish were still very active in the area though and I was keen to try and pin down the exact location as I thought my spots might not have been quite right. To gain a better perspective, I wandered a little down the bank and had a look out from the next swim. While observing the fish, my sounder box let out one single bleep. I figured it was a liner, but just to make sure, I made my way steadily back to my swim.

“As I got into the peg, the offending rod, with the bobbin firmly pinned against the rod, started peeling line off rapidly and the alarm began to sing! It was evident from the very outset that it was a good fish as it continued to tear line off the clutch when I picked the rod up. It must have done me of 70 yards of line on the first run, which clearly caught the attention of a few anglers and a little crowd began to gather. It was a real strange one, as after the first run, it turned and started swimming back towards me and I just steadily gained line. To be honest, I started to doubt its size, there was barely any weight there! Then, all thoughts of a smaller one were obliterated, as a huge head and bulging set of shoulders broke the surface. In the clear water, I realised it could only be one fish, Spike!

“With the fish beaten, I shuffled the near four foot long, perfect zip linear into the net and couldn’t quite believe the series of events that unfolded. I went from leaving the fishery and fishing somewhere else, to landing one of the best carp in the country, let alone the lake! In the end, the fish went 52lb 14oz and it perfectly capped off my time on Black Swan”