I received a ticket for my new syndicate lake last Sunday and I was itching to get down and get the rods out. I arrived Monday night ready for a four night session on the small lake and as it was dark, I quickly chucked out three blow back rigs for the night and planned to get up at first light.

The following morning I had a chat with my mate and the locals that were fishing the venue. After gleaning a bit of info it seemed pop ups and solid PVA bags were the way to go. When I got back to my swim, I found a lovely big gravel spot and decided on a combi rig for two of the rods and put the third on a solid bag rig.

That evening before casting out, I grabbed my surface gear and went over to the big lake for a few hours as there were a few fish showing on the surface. I rigged my floater rod up with 12lb Zig Link and a size 12 Covert Mugga hook. Hookbait was a 15mm Cell pop up trimmed down with a small Micromesh PVA bag of floaters added to the hook.

In a few hours I had managed three until the swim went quiet. I decided to position the rig a little further out, a good move as soon after casting my hookbait was slurped down instantly! After a good fight I was soon netting a new floater caught PB weighing 24lb 11oz!

I headed back to my swim on the little lake and spodded out about 5kg of particles and 1.5kg of Mainline cell. After getting the rods out I had a screaming take at 3am and played what felt like a good fish. At the time my head torch wasn’t working, so I wasn’t sure what I had hooked, but I could make out it was like a linear. I got it into the sack and waited until morning. When dawn arrived I got some pics and then slipped it back. For the record it weighed 17lb 12oz, but it didn’t matter as it was a stunner and one of the nicest fish I’ve caught.

A few hours later my solid bag rod went ripped off and I landed a mirror weighing 19lb 8oz. The rest of the day and night was quiet, however I received a slow take the following morning. After pulling into the fish, it stripped loads of line and the battle was lengthy lasting twenty minutes. In the net it looked like a beast and after getting the fish on the mat, I weighed it at 29lb 2oz. The fish is normally a mid-thirty but the fish had spawned the week before.

My combi rig was made from 15lb Trickster Heavy and a stiff end section made from 15lb Trip Wire. My choice of hook was a size 8 Covert Mugga, with a size 12 Covert Swivel added to the hook and held in place with a Covert Hook Stop. My PVA bag rig, which accounted for one fish consisted of a simple 2oz Gardner Flat Pear inline lead, a long length of Plummet leadcore and a 2 inch hook length made from 15lb Trickster Heavy in silt. A size 8 Covert Mugga hook completed the rig tied kd style.