Lance said:

With a few nights at my disposal, I knew of the lovely old stock that swam inn Devil’s Lane and with the banks being quieter than ever before, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to focus my attention on the lake. Location is vitally important this time of the year, and this proved to be the case on this session. After a few subtle rolls in open water amongst some low-lying weed, I knew that chods would be my favoured approach to ensure presentation as well as Manilla Active boilie crumb and Bloodworm Pellets to ensure they all slowly sank and sat on top of the substrate. With three chods deployed into the area just before sunset as well as a few spombs of bait, I sat back in anticipation for the night ahead. I heard a few rolls into darkness around the area and prayed that I’d got my tactics right to entice a bite. It’s so crucial to locate the carp in the colder months as you’re facing an uphill battle With daylight hours being so minimal this time of the year, the night felt like it lasted forever but in the early hours of the morning, I had my first take which instantly weeded me up, but the rig held tight and I landed a super-cool fully scaled mirror which I’d caught in previous sessions back in the summer. Black as your hat and a great start! The early success continued with another lovely mirror. I thought the chance may have gone, but just before first light I had a third bite, and it instantly felt a better fish. After weeding me up several times in the process of the fight, I caught a glimpse of it rolling on the surface I could see it was a good common. I bundled it into the net and instantly rang Tom as I knew he was on his way to Oxford to see if he could call and do the pictures. The scales settled at 38lb 14oz, ‘Shoulders’ biggest ever weight and a December morning I won’t be forgetting in a hurry!