I started a 48 hour session on Friday after school at FLE top lake. Whilst talking to the team, they said I would have a good chance in a swim known as the pipes. I got my tackle out of the van and was soon standing in the swim, it looked excellent for a bite as the wind was blowing straight into the bay. I put a few handfuls of bait on a couple of spots, one rod was going to be positioned near a patch of lily pads straight out in front and the other in the bay where there was a deep hole.

I soon had both my rods set up using a 2oz Gardner Pear lead, to a 2 inch blow back rig made from the Gardner Trickster Heavy using a size 8 Gardner Covert Mugga. All this was placed into a Gardner Mini PVA bag full of 1mm pellets. My hook bait was a homemade 10mm Cell and Clockwork Orange bottom bait. I knew this rig worked well as I caught well using it on my birthday trip to this venue.

Within a few hours my lily pad rod screamed off and I landed a 12lb 8oz mirror carp. Soon after I recast the rods for the night and they went out bang on the spots.

At 2am I thought it was odd that I hadn’t had anything, so I recast the one in the bay again and within fifteen minutes it screamed off. I was pleased I had made the effort of recasting and was rewarded with 14lb 4oz mirror carp. I took a few pics and recast the rod to the same spot.

Early in the morning I had another take and a lovely looking ghostie popped up, which went 15lb 12oz. I was really pleased it was turning out to be a good session for a change and unfortunately my mate who has been showing me up on recently sessions was blanking, but was becoming a great photographer!

At around mid-day I had a slow take and it went like stink! After a 10 minute battle I still hadn’t seen it and when it finally popped up it looked decent, and I was able to slip the net under it. On the scales it went 22lb 1oz, and was not only the lake record but a fish known as The Hog. I got some great shots and slipped her back, I was so pleased to have a twenty out and a named fish too!

A short while later I had another fish called the Parrot at 14lb 2oz. As the evening drew in, I had another take and as it came up I saw a massive belly and recognised it as a fish called the Pig. It went 19lb 7oz on the scales, so I got some pics and slipped her back. After each fish I topped the swim up with a handful of boilies. That night I had one last fish weighing 12lb 3oz and then that morning I went home. I was so pleased after landing three named fish and a new lake record to boot!