WRAYSBURY'S FINEST
1st July 2019
Ollie Ricotti is picking off the sought-after gems of Wraysbury, one by one this spring with another two ticked-off the list in one session!
As you will have seen in our previous stories, Ollie Ricotti has already had some great sessions, but this could be his best yet!
This time around, he managed to scoop his net under one of the Scotty fish known as “Paw Print” at 40lb 2oz followed by the “Broken Linear” on the final morning of the session at 42lb. He managed to back his two forties up with a number of other good fish.
A change of tactic this time round fishing a spread of just large Krill Freezer boilies in 20mm and 24mm with a Signature Squid Pop-Up over the top proved the key to picking out the larger fish.
Ollie revealed:
“After a few days of hot, dry weather, it was a nice change to turn up to stormy and overcast skies over Wraysbury One last week. I opted for a swim in a fairly deep corner of the lake, where I had done a few nights over the previous weeks. The area has a bit of form for doing some of the older fish in the lake at this sort of time; just before and after spawning.
Ollie Ricotti has had a spring he’ll remember for the rest of his life over at the iconic Wraysbury, ticking off its A-team one by one.
“Two areas at similar ranges were each baited with 2-3kg of whole Krill boilies in 20 and 24mm, and two hinge stiffs with yellow Signature Squid pop-ups were put over the top. It was a rainy evening and it didn’t ease off until the early hours. Just as it was getting light though, the right-hand rod signalled a pick-up and the tip wrapped around. After a powerful but fairly short-lived fight, Paw Print was sat in the bottom of the net, at a satisfying 40lb 2oz. I was over the moon with this one, being one of the lakes older residents, and definitely one off the hit list!
“The next 24 hours followed a similar pattern, after resting the swim most of the day, and rebaiting in the evening with a few kilos of 20/24mm’s, I received another two takes throughout the night: a common of around 24 to 25lb and a lovely dark mirror at 26lb 8oz. The hook holds with the pop-up rigs were all very good and they were obviously responding well to the whole bait approach, as opposed to my normal ‘bits and pieces’ baiting.
“I was confident going into the final night of the session and although I had to pack up to go to work at around 7am, the takes I had been getting were generally just before this.
Again, the swim was rested for a few hours, and a few kilos of boilies were spread over the spot using a combination of a throwing stick and walking around the bank to within catapult range.
“The majority of the night passed quietly until at about 4am I started getting really good liners on both rods, lifting and dropping the hanger from almost the floor to the blank. Eventually, the right-hand hanger stuck at the top and the line pinged out the line clip, not much of a bite but after a deep, slow fight, weeding me several times, I was staring down at another big old mirror in the net. I thought at first it was a repeat of the long Sutton from the beginning of May, but I flicked on the headlamp and saw the little squared-off tail fin of the Broken Lin. At 42lb it marked my third forty of the Spring, and the end of a red-letter session. Somehow, I was even on time for work!”
“The next 24 hours followed a similar pattern, after resting the swim most of the day, and rebaiting in the evening with a few kilos of 20/24mm’s, I received another two takes throughout the night: a common of around 24 to 25lb and a lovely dark mirror at 26lb 8oz. The hook holds with the pop-up rigs were all very good and they were obviously responding well to the whole bait approach, as opposed to my normal ‘bits and pieces’ baiting.
“I was confident going into the final night of the session and although I had to pack up to go to work at around 7am, the takes I had been getting were generally just before this.
Again, the swim was rested for a few hours, and a few kilos of boilies were spread over the spot using a combination of a throwing stick and walking around the bank to within catapult range.
“The majority of the night passed quietly until at about 4am I started getting really good liners on both rods, lifting and dropping the hanger from almost the floor to the blank. Eventually, the right-hand hanger stuck at the top and the line pinged out the line clip, not much of a bite but after a deep, slow fight, weeding me several times, I was staring down at another big old mirror in the net. I thought at first it was a repeat of the long Sutton from the beginning of May, but I flicked on the headlamp and saw the little squared-off tail fin of the Broken Lin. At 42lb it marked my third forty of the Spring, and the end of a red-letter session. Somehow, I was even on time for work!”
