TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
19th October 2020
Ben Talbot kept on his toes during his recent trip to Christchurch, which resulted in the Long Common at 43lb!
On busy lakes, you are often not only pitting your wits against the fish but also the angling pressure itself. Quite often the going swims are occupied, so you have to make do until these hot swims become available, and when they do, you have to be the first to react! Ben Talbot is well versed in this style of angling and has put it to great effect on Christchurch Lake on the Linch Hill complex. His most recent session was typical of what he has been faced with over the last few months, where he had to bide his time in order to come away with a fish under his belt.
Ben fished using Manilla Yellow Ones as his hookbait, along with Manilla boilies, soaked in Manilla Glug and coated in Manilla Active Mix as his bottom bait.
Ben told us:
“Turning up at midnight, I tried to locate the fish, I had noticed where the fish were, but the pegs were taken around the area. At around 5 am, I stopped and spoke to another angler who was leaving early morning, so I decided to jump in after him. It was a similar area to where I had finished up the previous week, so I felt quite happy as the peg down the bank had done a few fish. After other anglers turned up that day and settled down in the same area, the fish seemed to push off the angling pressure. That was confirmed the following morning as a certain area that hadn’t done fish for some time started to produce some bites, but with no pegs free, I stayed put and opted for a short nap. During the afternoon, I woke to an empty swim in the middle zone, right where the fish were held up, so I reeled in sharpish and took a bucket around to secure the swim where the fish seemed to be. Setting up, I fired three rods quite close together off the sides of some gravel and with five Spombs of mix over each rod, I sat back confident of a fish.
“At around 4:30am the following morning, I woke mid take as the middle rod lit up my swim. I connected with a powerful fish which took me left and right, lunging about trying everything it could to evade capture and after a good 20-minute scrap, she went in the net. I switched the head torch on and in my net sat a huge common, without wanting to make too much disturbance, I quietly got her in the retainer and put the kettle on. As first light broke, me and a couple of lads got all the kit together, got her out and it was a fish known as the Long Common, one I hadn’t caught before. At 43lb exactly, it certainly made the move worthwhile, I was buzzing!
“Doing that sort of fishing isn’t by choice, but I know it’s the only way I’m going to stay ahead of the game and make the most of my time on Christchurch. You’re not going to catch them sitting at home, so putting 110% in is the only way forward!”
