“I have had a ticket on Tyram for three years and have slogged away through some scorching hot summers and contrastingly cold winters trying to catch Baz. It is a fairly regular fish to the bank, and from the outside looking in, people would think it’s an easy lake and fish to target. This couldn’t be further from the truth though, the lake can be very tricky and Baz has seen it all over the years!

“Thankfully, throughout my time on the lake, I have learnt a few things and Baz is certainly a creature of habit. I knew it liked a certain zone in the early spring, and so I planned a session to coincide with the new moon phase and plotted up right where I thought she would be.

“I had four nights in front of me but there was only one thing on my mind, get the rods on the plateau and sit on my hands! The lake isn’t massive and if you can keep your area quiet, the fish tend to relax a bit more.

“I ended up losing one the following night which was an absolute gutter. The lake is riddled with lily pads and I managed to avoid them all during the fight at 2am. I was in my keks, freezing cold, and just about to push the net under this fish, when it turned and wrapped itself around two solitary pads before pulling the hook! I was devastated, but I knew it wasn’t Baz, so I repositioned the rod and got back in bed.

“The following day passed by uneventfully, but I was still confident that Baz was out there somewhere. I had put 3kg of Manilla Active out and was still sure there was some left so I just re cast the rigs before dark to make sure they were perfect, each baited with 16mm white Mulbz pop-ups.

“Just on first light, I received a steady bite and I hit into the fish to feel a super heavy weight. It slowly plodded around the swim, without really doing anything too crazy, so I waded out with the net ready. This huge set of shoulders come up and I was absolutely bricking it, this was the moment! Unfortunately, the fish, which was clearly Baz, had other ideas, as it flat rodded me and stripped 40 yards of line! I winced as the fish shredded the line off the spool, before rising back up in the water and practically swimming straight back towards me. In one swoop, I scooped the huge-framed mirror into the net and was immediately overcome with emotion. It’d been a tough old year or so for me and to finally have the fish I so desperately wanted was a feeling of absolute euphoria!

“I left the fish to rest before the lads soon gathered in the swim for the weighing and photographs. In the end, she went 51lb 6oz and looked perfect, having not been out since the back end of last year. As she swam away, I reflected on the last three years of jobs and breakups, wins and losses and the sweat and tears; it was all worth it! What a buzz!”