Some Mondays are great! Especially when we come into the Gardner office and get an excited phone call from one of the team to say they have been successful!

This week it was the amiable Tim Child’s turn to give us some more good new, having continued his successful run of the big fish by banking this fantastic looking mirror, weighing in at a colossal 39Ib 2oz – making this a new lake record and personal best, and one of the largest mirrors caught in the lovely county of Staffordshire.

The venue Tim has been targeting is a ‘tricky’ small water that he recently joined as it contains both mirror and commons to upper 30 size. In just 12 nights angling he has captured 9 of its residents, including a beautifully proportioned 34lb common, and taken the honour of being ‘joint top rod’ on the venue.

All these crackers have been caught within a few feet of the bank, with Tim using a careful and clever approach, setting traps right in the edge and using the fast sinking 14lb Mirage Fluorocarbon mainline to help keep the end tackle hidden. As usual he has been using our size 8 Covert Long-shank Mugga hooks to properly nail the fish.

Tim has been feeding the spots regularly with Richworth baits K-G-1 freezer baits in 10mm,14mm and dumbbells mixed together, and said feels that this combination of sizes and shapes has really got the fish feeding hard!

This is an excellent result for Tim, and shows exactly what is possible with the right tackle and bait. Well done mate!