Ben said:

“The past few months have gone in the blink of an eye, following my success on the Lincolnshire Snaggy Pit in April and May, my attention wandered elsewhere. I was fortunate to enjoy a few nights as a guest on AJS Fisheries’ Knipton Reservoir with my work colleague Dave Taylor where it was great fun flicking baits to the back of the marginal weed and nailing a few doubles. Amazingly it wasn’t until July that I was next on the bank, after a few weekends away with the family exploring the hills of Yorkshire and mountains of Wales.

“The usually clear Snaggy Pit was tinged green with an algae bloom, which I’ve never found conductive with good fishing conditions, so I ventured elsewhere. First stop was a blank night on the River Trent which coincided with me getting my first couple of bottles of the new Pure Fish and Pure Shrimp Liquids. Setting up right on top of a weir and catching multiple chub was not ideal when I had work early the next morning.

“Mid-July, I decided to pop back on to the park lake I’d enjoyed the previous two years, as I still longed to catch an epic common called Cut Tail and somehow, on my first night back, I managed to catch one of the elusive inhabitants of the low-stocked pit. A stunning mirror of 33lb called Lucky. A few handfuls of crumbed Krill boilies and a good slug of the Pure Fish Liquid did the trick on this occasion – happy days. Two weeks later I was back and despite forgetting my waders I was raring to go. Things couldn’t have got off to a better start, using the same approach as the last session I soon had a 27lb common in the net. The following day, I had one of the better fish, Tourist, at 36lb and on the last full day, I had the Dark Common at 29lb 4oz. What an unbelievable session, some say it was karma for other events that unfolded the same weekend, but I prefer to think I’m just a spawny bugger at times.

“We were soon into August and following a fantastic social session at Q Lake, I was due a session on Birch Lake on the Old Mill complex and although that session produced a few nice fish to mid thirties, the session was more memorable for the fish others caught, I love helping out with photos and the celebrations, even more so when one of them was a personal best.

“The following week I was helping out with the Ladies Carp Academy, an amazing event, although it meant giving up some of my own fishing time, I find these days so rewarding and wouldn’t hesitate to help out at other such events – their desire and enthusiasm to learn is incredible. I was supposed to venture back to Birch Lake for a night following the event, but I was exhausted and soon crashed out at home. Thankfully, due to some convenient family circumstances, a few days later I was able to go again, four nights and no fish, though again I did get to witness some of the lake’s large inhabitants.

“Three days in the office and guess what… I was back again and after three nights with no fish I was considering taking up golf! A slight change in the weather brightened things up and around lunchtime my right-hand rod started to receive a few liners, and a few hours later and it was away with a steady but powerful take. There was little I could do but hang on and quickly commented to my neighbouring angler that it was a ‘good un’! Everything came to a stop in the weed and despite steady pressure I couldn’t feel any movement. With a boat close to hand, I wasted no time jumping in and pulling myself out to the fish. It was easy to pick my line up from where the fish had kited around a weedbed, but with a huge ball of weed fixed a few feet up the line from the fish, I had little control so laid the rod down in the boat, broke the weed up and after picking the rod up was soon in more direct contact. Rather than getting towed around the lake, I rowed the short distance to the nearest bank and played the fish from there. Huge vortexes kept boiling up, further reinforcing my thoughts that it was a big fish and soon enough this was confirmed as a colossal mirror of 50lb 8oz lay in the waiting net. It was so nice that the other members were all able to share the moment with me, making it all the more special.”