The Catfish Fish-in 2007

The Catfish Fish-in 2007

Christian with his catfish

After arriving early Friday morning I had a walk around the lake to find most of the swims occupied. As time went on people moved out and I hopped into my chosen swim. Thought I'd better get my tent up before it rained. So out it came and I put the outside layer on the floor and pegged it down. I then went into the bag for the poles to keep it upright. It normally helps if the person who used it last had put them back in the bag (my sister). Anyway, my step dad said he'd drive down and bring them over.

Luckily enough Gary (Steaker de Lurker) had something I could use. So up that went and the gear inside. Fortunately the rain never came. Well not for the 2 days I was there.

As the day went on everyone else started to arrive and I had a good chat with everyone. The rods went out and we waited. I put a kilo or two of bait under an overhanging willow on the other side of my swim only for about 6 ducks to dive down and mop it all up.

I think it was either Mark or Sue who had the first fish, a small catfish. Brilliant I thought, they're feeding. After 2 bream and a jack pike I was lucky enough to land a small one which I didn't bother to weigh. The night was still early (well 10/11ish anyway) and I was hoping for more fish. I spent most of the time yapping to Gary in the next swim, when we heard Mark's alarm bleeping. I thought I'd go round and he'd had himself a cat. After 10mins or so I strolled back round the lake only to have Gary sort of glide out of nowhere and said 'heellloo' in a strange voice (strange voice, strange guy). Anyway, as I'm never scared I bravely jumped into my karate stance ready for trouble. Honest, don't listen to Gary if he tries to tell you different.

At around 6 I decided to try and have some sleep which didn't last long as I had a run only catch a bream around 2.5lbs. Right, so we're on Saturday by now and after a chilly night I start to get trench foot. Alright well it wasn't that bad, but they were soggy and aching. At about 10 we went off to the local tackle shop for a few bits and to get BBQ food for the evening. Not much happened during the day so me and Matty went off to another lake to try some stalking, all to no avail.

In the evening we had our BBQ and bought the rods in, well most of us did. It was a great BBQ so thanks to the chiefs! A little later on we made our way back to the swims. I ended up with another bream or two, I can't quite remember as they were quite small.

I really enjoyed myself, had my first cat and a few more fish than last year. I think a good time was had by all and I'll be looking forward to next year.

Colin with his catfish

The fish-in according to Colin

Well. What a bunch of characters our FM colleagues are! A diverse bunch from all walks of life and some fairly far flung places having regard to the fishery.

This was the first time Sue and I had participated in a FM members organised “Fish In” so we didn't know quite what to expect. We were not disappointed at all, despite the fishing at our end of the lake being somewhat “Patchy” but one makes the best of it. Having bivvied up, one is less inclined to move around to different spots, despite their availability, particularly when you are a fat lazy person like me.

The fishing, from our perspective, was pretty slow, with only three small catfish between the pair of us in 72 hours. Sue had a 2lb bream on a 25mm boilie, and I had a 3lb Jack Pike, as well as a very nice 13lb “Ghostie” and, I'm afraid to admit, that was our sum contribution to the event.

We had a great Barbie on Saturday night with a few rude jokes from Trev's daughter, Heather. Hope her Mum isn't reading this! The weather was kind to us all, save that at about 10.30ish, on Monday, we had a few spots of rain. Then, at sometime around 1 a.m., Sunday morning, to be woken by Matty asking if we would like to see his monster carp.

All in all, some good “gasbagging” with Christian and Steaker and Mr & Mrs Les made for a great extended week-end, that Sue & I thoroughly enjoyed, and we are looking forward to next year, when hopefully, there will be a repeat event.

The fish-in according to Les

Colin and Sue

Having not fished for Cats before, I was more than happy to try for them at this fish in at Beaver Lake . We (Chris & I) couldn't make it for on the Friday, so set off early Saturday and got to Beavers about 7.30, the first person I spoke to was Trevor who was just putting the kettle on.

We had a few words and then I went off to find a swim, Beaver Lake is only about 2 ½ acres with a fair sized island, so the swims are limited in size, the swim I chose was little more than a channel between the bank and the island about 30 ft in width and only 3-3.5 ft in depth, but on the plus side not far away from the loos and the café!

At that time both swims either side were empty, Colin and Sue were two swims away on our left, with Christian a couple of swims up from them. We set up and I cast a couple of baits out, and by this time the sun was getting rather hot.

Chris was not feeling too good an had been unwell for a couple of days , so it was touch and go if we would stay the distance , anyway after setting up it was time to meet the motley crew, the first to meet were Colin and Sue, what a great couple they are, well in to all sections of angling, sea, trout, salmon, coarse, you name it they fish for it, and a bloody good laugh to boot!

The next person that I met was "Asbo Boy", Christian, a nice boy who had already caught bream and small cats on the first night (must remember to watch this one).

I then went on to the next swim which housed Steaker, well if he had been housed he would have been evicted by the council, what an eyesore! A bright yellow bivvie with a union jack sown on, take away crap all over his swim. “Hi Steaker I'm Les, good to meet you.”

“Grunt,” was the reply, whiskey bottle in one hand and a big ham roll in the other.

Sod this I thought, I'm off. “See you at the barbie tonight mate.”

“Grunt.”

I didn't meet Mark, Nick and Matty until later in the day at the barbie. Mark is a gentle giant of a man who did a lot of the cooking at the barbie, plus caught 3 carp and 3 cats during his stay. Nick is a nice guy, down to earth and easy going and looks very much like his photo on FM .

Matty, what can I say mate, apart from bloody well done, the 22lb was a great fish and played you raggedy. I know, I was watching and you were over the moon and just so and then in the night you go and double your new P.B. with a 44lb mirror and at a Catfish fish-in!

Needless to say, I blanked, but what a great bunch of people to fish with!

The fish-in according to Matt - “A failure to be proud of!”

Promptly after the semi-success of last year's FM Catfish fish-in, with one truly monstrous 53lb moggie being banked by Mark Hewitt, and what with the general jovialities that made the trip what it was, it was soon suggested that there should definitely be another. So the months rolled by, dreaming of big cats, and months before anything could be finalised, it was mentioned on the forum with a good response too. People were interested! The same faces as last year said they were up for it, with a good number of new faces to boot. Great I thought !

Another few months went and I finally I thought it was about time to get things done, so the lake was booked. We opted for the same venue as last year, Beaver Fisheries in East Grinstead, as we “knew” the bailiff, and had had a great time the year before. We did however opt for a different lake. This time, the arena was to be named Snipe. A far more picturesque lake covered with lilies, a couple islands and surrounded by lovely overhanging willows and other trees.. Not being too up on my tree vocab, I'll let you guys imagine for yourselves what there was. Needless to say, it was beautiful!

Lilies covered the lake

The numbers to be in attendance gradually dropped a little from 20 or so, down to a final 13 until just days before we were due to go. Cakey had to drop out due to personal reasons. You were dearly missed Cakey, your quick witted banter, and somewhat peculiar take on life would have made the trip better than it was, tenfold! Budgie Burgess was also due to turn up, but having not heard anything from him, nor responding to my emails for over a month, I was inclined to think he wouldn't make it. My suspicions were true! Then only one days before the big day, Evan decided he wouldn't be attending. This got me worried, as he was my wheels there, but he kindly offered to drive me the 30 miles or so there, only to turn around and drive home again. Thanks for that buddy, really appreciate it! So, we were down to ten! A nice round number if you ask me.

Friday arrives and one by one we all arrive, aside from Les and his Mrs who were due to arrive Saturday morning. Christian having got there first had the pick of the swims, and opted for a nice corner where a guy was just moving out of the swim. This guy had been there three weeks. Three bloody weeks! Nutter! Mind you, he had had a good few fish, so Chris, being a known "ASBO" and all, thought he would threaten to burn this guy's bivvie to the ground unless he upped sticks and skedaddled. True to form, Chris produced a Jerry Can of petrol, and a lighter to boot, so the chap quickly packed up and moved off. Fair do's I thought. I would do the same if Chris threatened me. He might come off all nice and innocent on the forum, but cross him at your own peril.

I decided to go for a swim round the front of the lake, which turned out to be completely away from everyone else, although only being a small 3 acre maximum lake, it was only a short wander until I found someone. I had fancied the swim Nick ended up in, as it was in front of an aerator, a known good spot for cats as we found out last year. The aerator was also between two islands, but Nick's swim had some branches poking out of the water in front of the aerator, so moved round to the other side of the lake. This swim was very nice looking. It had two beds of lilies, one of which was to the left of the peg, on the margin, and the other bed was out against the island, giving a small channel between them and the island. If there's any fish going around the island, that's where they're going to be, I thought.

Having set up my bivvie and such, I thought it time to do the rods, and decided to have one rod specifically for cats, setting it up with popped up leeches, and they should have been gold plated leeches as much as I paid for these little “things”. The other rod, I set up as a standard bolt rig with boilies on, thinking a cat would happily pick them up, but might get a bonus carp if they come along. Little did I know what was to transpire !

I cast out at just before noon before settling into my veritable palace of a bivvie, with luxury amenities to hand. En-suit bathroom, self-catering kitchen and a rather sizable, if somewhat murky swimming pool just 5 strides from my front door. Sounds like an ideal holiday ad if you ask me, especially given the glorious whether we were to have for the duration of our trip. I put the leech rod out in open water, and the boilie rod in a spot that would require some damn good casting if I do say so myself, and this is damn good casting in broad daylight, let alone pitch black, of which I was going to have to attempt more than once over the weekend.

The spot in question was tight in under and overhanging willow coming off the island, which drooped down maybe 3 feet from the lilies, giving me maybe 2 square feet to land in after a 20 yard gentle lob, to give myself any chance of a fish. As mentioned before, if any fish were to patrol the island, they would surely go between the island and the pads, and this over hanging willow was the perfect entry or exit point for them to get in or out of there. “It must be a winner” I muttered to myself, as on the third attempt, I landed plum in the perfect spot before clipping up and winding in, putting the PVA of crushed boilies and a handful of pellets on, smeared with the piece de resistance, shrimp paste. This stuff stinks! Enough to make me wretch in fact, but, the fish seem to like it, so on it went, and into the water the rig went followed by 20 or so free boilies covering four square feet. And relax!

Dinnertime comes, dinnertime goes, and a quick chat on the phone with the Mrs soon sees me tucked up in my four star, ground floor luxury apartment awaiting a hopefully eventful night. Having not done many over nighters, I am still quite new to the idea of being woken up by a screaming alarm, but this didn't seem to faze me as at about 11pm, I did just that. Leaping down to the rods more elegantly than a gazelle, I picked up the rod that seemed to have something pulling on it, and upon striking, it was soon apparent that the fish wanted to be in the pads. Unfortunately, with only one second to make any headway, I was unable to steer it clear, and in it went, making everything go solid. Bugger, sprang to mind as I tugged once more, but nothing was doing. I decided to wander round to Colin and Sue's peg having left the rod back on the rest, to acquire some assistance as I was contemplating going in after it. We arrived back in the swim and I thought I'd give it one last go, and out it came good as gold. Two minutes later, after a spirited tussle, a nice 9lb Koi was engulfed by the folds of the 48” net. Blank saved I thought. Not a monster in anyone's books, but a pretty fish and more than welcome.

The re-cast saw me stick it in the willow. Bother, or rather more expletive words were mumbled, and a re-tackle later saw me get it right, again clipping up and putting the PVA on, followed by another twenty free helpings. And back in the sack I went. Nothing happened for the rest of the night until the early hours of a new dawn, when I had two runs in the space of an hour or so, both of which were rather disappointing, although confidence building 4-5lb commons. I was surprised at the number of small carp in the lake, given the amount of big moggies in there, but they were good fun nonetheless. Back to the land of nod for a couple more hours before I was woken by a screaming run. Sitting upright in the chair and opening my eyes, I gradually focused onto 4 guys standing next to my rods, having a good giggle to themselves after Chris thought it would be funny to give my line a couple tugs to wake me. I did not appreciate this much, but I didn't want to seem too angry for fear of what Chris might do the next time I'm asleep. So a good chuckle later and a quick refresh, we were off to Sainsbury's for BBQ food, and equally important, to the tackle shop for much needed supplies.

Having a group of us go was quite easy, especially with Christian as he claimed to know the area. It was only upon getting remotely close to Sainsbury's did we realise he didn't have a clue where we were when he exclaimed, “I don't really go to Sainsbury's, so I don't know. I think it's around here somewhere,” to which a few of us in the back rolled our eyes and met the palm of our hand with forehead. We finally arrived and after a modestly quick whiz around, we had enough food to feed an army, so it was to the tackle shop, of which Chris knew exactly where it was... thankfully.

During the trip to the various shops, it had transpired that Mark had had a couple of small cats out in the night. Nothing huge, about 9lb being the biggest, but welcome nonetheless. Popped up worms seemed to be the order of the day as far as cats were concerned, having known Mark had caught on them, as had Sue, twice. But, I am stubborn, and after almost needing to take out a bank loan to pay for these leeches, so called catfish wonder-baits, I refused to change. Leeches it was for me. Mind you, a few cats had been caught. Things were looking good and with the weather the way it was on the Saturday, things were looking promising!

Mark with his two kittens. Lovely fish, but not 53lb

Before too long, we had arrived back at the fishery and things were settled, and so after a quick wander round to see how things had gone, and to let people know the BBQ was for seven that evening. It was also arranged that Chris and I would head off to another lake to try and stalk some carp, but nothing was doing much, so we found ourselves back at our respective swims, ready to cast out for a few hours before food was due.

The same spots were fished as far as I was concerned, and after the obligatory feed had gone it, it was back to the bivvie for a comfy chair and a quick check home with the Mrs again. Lunchtime past and soon enough 5 'o'clock had rolled on and not much was doing, until I got a good run on the boilie rod again. Once again I strike with immediate sidestrain, but after a second or two the fish was in the pads, again. Bugger, I thought. Again. After a minute or two of trying to pull it out, Sue had popped round, along with Les, Sue, Mark and Nick, and a guy in a corner swim who wasn't with us. So after a short discussion, it was suggested that I either go in, or pass the rod round a few trees to get a different angle. Not wanting to get wet, this is what I tried first, but still nothing budged for a few minutes, until it gradually pulled out of the pads and gave a hell of an account of itself. Straight away I knew it was a big fish, a new PB I thought as it rolled once or twice in front of me.

Now, for the record, I don't do masses of carp fishing, and my PB at the time was a mere 16lb 8oz. A fish I was happy with, but wanted to get the 20. After a hell of a fight which made David and Goliath look like a tea party, it was in the net. Upon lifting it out, I was positive it was a PB, and so it was, pulling the scales round to 22lb dead. I was elated, to say the least. My First 20, a new PB, and on an FM Fish-In. I couldn't ask for much more. A good few snaps later and it was safely put back. Still with a huge grin upon my face, I eventually got back to my swim and decided as it was getting on for 6, I wouldn't recast, but put some more bait in and change the rig on the leech rod, all before the BBQ started, so this is what I did.

22lbs of perfect mirror carp. First 20+ and a new PB

Soon enough, the BBQ was ready and thanks to the very capable BBQ'ing abilities of Mark and Gary(Steaker), we all had one hell of a meal. Chicken wings and breasts in abundance, with a million burgers and four different types of sausage. FOUR no less. Some good banter echoed through-out, as well as the rude jokes by Heather, who blamed everything on her mother, much to the horror of her father. A good bunch all round though. A few of which I've had the pleasure (or misfortune, not quite sure) of meeting before, at last year's do, but a few new faces too. But after eating all we could, and watching the lake for nearly two hours, we were all teased and taunted too much by the amount of fish activity to where we all had to get back to the swims to get some rods out.

Animals, the bunch of 'em

Everyone did so with great concentration and preparation for the night ahead. The weather just felt different. I'm sure you've all had that 'feeling' in the past. Something just felt right about that night. The day had been hot, there was cloud over head and although the daylight hours had been quiet aside from my carp, we were sure the night would be different.. Something was going to happen. We could feel it.

The rods were out, and our fat, lazy stomachs lay full of meat. The night was right, and although the cloud was clearing to leave a clear, starry night, it still felt good. Not much time had passed and it was time to get some shut eye. I have tried staying awake through the nights before, when I thought something was going to happen, but it just kills me in the end, and being confident my alarms would wake me, I settled into the sleeping bag and nodded off. Until...

The boilie rod screams off once more, and as I leapt down to get it, something told me to hang on tight and pull as hard as I could away from the pads. Having had all three previous carp go in them, I didn't want this one in there too. Quite amazingly, the carp obliged. It swam the other way! “This must be another small one to come away so easy,” I thought, until it ploughed through my other rod. Hmmm, was my reaction. I pulled the other way, the fish came, but did not want to come up. OK, this is feeling a bit better now. It pulls expletively hard again, going for the other pads, so wanting to get my clutch set just right, I loosened it slightly but held on tight. As I mentioned previously, I don't do masses of carp fishing, so although I've had these Wychwood Maximizer Pit Reels for best part of a year and half I think, these were the first fish I had caught on them.

Anyways, I held on tight and didn't let the fish get to the pads and gradually got it out in front again, and played it until it popped up. I swear to god, if it wasn't for the fact that adrenaline had kicked in, and I was more awake than an insomniac on speed, I would have thought I had a horse on the end of my line, purely going on the size of this things head! Down it went again and pulled like nothing before. “Can I have some help please someone!” I yelled, but at 1am, I didn't expect many, or any people to hear me. Thankfully, no longer than 30 seconds later, Trev arrives in my swim and crouches down next to me as the fish pops up again. “You called me out here for this tiddler?” Was his first comment, to which I said nothing. Just trying to hold onto this submarine which had found its way onto my hook.

What seemed like another 10 minutes later, and a few netting attempts later, the fish was mine. We decided to leave it in the net and unhook it where it was. Having only seen its head pop out, I was amazed at the width of this fish once in the net. it was Huge, with a capital 'H'. “Bugger me I've not seen anything that big.”

I left Trev with the fish and proceeded to walk round the lake, rather rudely waking people up to come and have a look. “Err Nick, can I borrow your big weigh sling and big scales? I've just had a huge carp.” “Wake up Chris, I've had a huge carp. Well over 30 I think, don't know though.” Were a couple of the brief but effective convos that were held.

Arriving back in the swim with everyone gathered, it was time to weigh this beast from the deep. But first, I had to lift it out of the water, which was no easy task in itself. I didn't realize how big it was until it was on the unhooking mat. “That's Huge,” says Chris, “that's got to be 40,” he says. Into the sling it went and the scales were handed to me to lift. Straining to lift it, the scales eventually tipped round to 47lb. Shit, I said, as I had them re-read. Yep, 47lb they tell me. A slightly weak at the knee's me gently let the fish down, as the cameras stared flashing away. A few poses later for the keep, and soon enough the fish was back in the water. Gone. We decided then to weigh the sling, which was an insignificant 3lb. 44lb of Mirror carp had been mine. Forty bloody Four Pounds. I honestly couldn't believe it. I still can't. I had seen 20's in books and on TV and thought, “if only.” I had read about Clarissa and thought “I'll never get that.” But I had. OK, It wasn't Clarissa. A 44lb carp nowadays isn't as unheard of as it was in Dick Walker's world, but they are, or at least were, unheard of in my world. She was mine, and had gone back as safe and sound as she had graced us all with her presence.

The 44-pounder. A truly huge fish.

Back to the bed chair I went, but not being able to sleep I decided to change my cat rod again, to try one last time for that big moggie. Perhaps I was being greedy, but a 20+ cat would have done nicely. Unfortunately, nothing was doing apart from a few line bites, which I suspected were carp, feeding on the spodded mussels, cockles, crayfish, prawns and boilies I had put out. But, being the stubborn person I am, I refused to change to boilies in the hope that a cat would come along and snaffle up my bait. Never happened though.

The last run came on the Sunday morning, but after being admittedly a little slow to get the rod, the fish went straight into the pads and a second of two later came free of the hook. To be honest, I was actually a bit disappointed in myself for missing this fish. For the second or two it was on, it felt decent, and I should have been quicker to the rod. Thinking the original couple of beeps was a line bite, as it quickly stopped, then started again, I sat tight. Should have had it, but didn't. In retrospect, I don't really care. My trip was done.

The rest of the day passed with very little activity elsewhere and soon enough it was time to head home, thanks to a lift from Mark.

Upon reflection, my catfish trip was a failure. I was one of the few that had failed to catch the elusive Wels, having seen Sue catch a few, Mark catch a couple and Chris having one too. But there was no way I could feel disappointed in my trip. A 22lb Mirror PB, follow 6 hours later by a fish that dwarfed it, a staggering 44lb Mirror. I am confident I will never catch a fish that big in this country again, and I am sure that there was a big piece of luck involved, as there is with all big fish captures, but I think the most important aspects are that I caught it on an FM Fish-In, something I'll never forget, and that I am now, after quite a few demoralizing thoughts of doubt and uneasiness, I am now confident in my rigs, and confident that I can do things right. I don't claim that this capture makes me a great, or even good angler, but it makes me feel slightly happier when sitting behind the rods that my rigs have fooled a big ole wise girl of 44lb.

I would like to thank everyone for coming along and making it a memorable trip. Sorry the fishing couldn't be a big better, but we sure did try and get those cats. I'm sure one day there will be one on the bank that would make the captor proud.

As far as I'm aware, the final tally was Sue having 3 small cats and a bream, Mark having 3 cats to about 9lb and 3 small carp, Christian having a small cat, a pike (on boilie) and a bream, Nick having countless fish out the Brooke, and a bream, Trev and Heather having a nice tench, Colin having a lovely 13lb Ghostie and a jack pike. Steaker caught Christian sneaking outside his bivvie. Les got the 'ump with the bailiff. And I had 5 carp. (shoulda been 6 though).

The fish-in according to Nicholas King

Nearly six months ago, Matty posted a thread on the events/fish-in forum asking for interested parties to get their names down for this year's event. “Bloody hell,” I thought, “you're a bit keen, it`s only January and the middle of winter!” Thoughts of a few days off work, possible hot and sunny weather, meeting up with some of the folk from last year's festivities and the chance of wrestling with a leviathan from the deep were more than any man could take and my name was down on the list straight away!

I almost forgot, Evan and his famous pork and bean stew may have had some bearing on me coming along also!

Last year's event and this year's preparation

I started thinking about last year's event and how we all turned up with sure-fire methods and baits, I think we were all convinced that our way was the best but as it turned out, it was a case of how little we knew and how much we were going to learn!

Also, despite being armed with excellent advice from Budgie Burgess, who knows a thing or two about catfish fishing and advice from the fisheries resident bailiff, I think it was fair to say that last year's fishing was a bit of a grueller.

Mark Hewitt came through in the end, with a 53lbs monster that gave him one hell of an arm aching battle before it slipped over the inviting arms of the landing net.

Mark with his 53lb beauty from last year

I had taken in what I had learned from last year, especially bait-wise and a visit to the catfish pro stand at a tackle fair at Kettering leisure village, ensured that I had the correct sized unhooking mat and weigh sling and a 50 inch landing net from e-Bay plus a few minor items from my local tackle emporium were all I needed to buy tackle-wise.

As far as bait was concerned, a livebait was to be fished using a pike style sunken float paternoster rig, the wire traces were to be replaced with Kryston Quicksilver on one rod. The other rod (the suck-it-and-see rod) was to be fished alternating between large chunks of meat, flavoured with either monster crab or predator plus. As a backup I would bring some heavily glugged donkey choker Source boilies. As it turned out, the boilies would get the nod over the meat.

So there you have it, tackle and bait plus the usual odds and sods, food items, tea and coffee sorted.

Everything packed away where it should be and then loaded into the car the night before, it was time for some much needed shut-eye and then the journey down south to beaver fisheries, where monsters live.

Old and new faces

The journey from my Northamptonshire throne was quick and painless, the M1 was in a good mood southbound and as it turned out, the M25 was in jovial spirits too. So two and a half hours later of calm, pleasant, hand gesturing free motoring saw me drive through the fishery gate. Better park up and have a word with the resident bailiff and see what's what I thought.

We were encamped on No.1 - Snipe Lake

The head bailiff who is also called Nick, is a happy-go-lucky chappy who is full of good helpful advice and told me all I needed to know about the lake we were on. He informed me that a lot of big fish were being caught at the front of the islands on Snipe lake and he also told me that a lot of big fish were also being hooked at the front of the islands but being lost as they were crashing straight through the beds of lily pads that adorn this picturesque lake, these big fish were carp though. Not a great deal was happening with the big cats but as the weather was on the change and apparently there is a new moon coming? This would encourage the cats to go on the feed.

As I didn`t fancy hooking and having a big carp or giant tadpole slipping my hook or snapping me up in the lilies, Nick the bailiff pointed me in the direction of the back of the two islands in the lake. Good open swims, with some bankside vegetation but clear and easy casting to the overhanging trees and bushes on the islands. “Cast as close as you can get to the overhanging willows and you should be OK mate.” I was told.

We both walked out of the office/shop and Colin and Sue rolled up with what looked like the contents of a tackle shop in their people carrier. It`s not until you sort out stuff and load up a vehicle for this sort of trip, that you realise just how much stuff you have. Loaded to bursting point it was!

A few hellos and some last minute instructions from Nick the bailiff, then we headed to our home for the next few days.

When I arrived lakeside, I was taken by surprise really at how beautiful looking the lake actually was. If you think that all commercial type fisheries are soulless holes in the ground, then this place will definitely blow your socks off and it`s no exaggeration to say that Chris Yates wouldn`t look out of place here, fishing the lift method for tench.

Matty spotted me and came over to say hello and Evan was with him as well but unfortunately not fishing this year. After a few handshakes and greetings we then proceeded to walk around the lake to help with our choices in swims. On our the way round to where I fancied fishing from, we met up with Christian (my hasn't he grown) and Gary (aka Steaker). More handshakes and hellos followed and then off to find my swim.

After picking a swim where everything could be set up and spread out without fear of tripping over stuff in the middle of the night and a place where fish could be placed on an unhooking mat and weighed etc, the unpacking began and the setting up started. I couldn`t wait to cast a line!

With rods set up, I cast in a suck it and see one with flavoured meat and a PVA bag of pellets adorning the hooklength and carried on making camp. The livebait rod I was just going to leave until sunset/night time but decided to put out a double Source boilie rig and pellet bag, all glugged in lovely source liquid…yum yum…what fish could resist this! I would then switch over to the livebait set up later on.

Here, kitty kitty kitty!

With everything set up and sorted out Mark Hewitt turns up and says hello. The catfish king has arrived, a little late but he is here and not too long after Mark I hear a voice up the bank behind me. “Caught any fish mister?” Trev and his daughter Heather introduce themselves. The circle is almost complete. Les and his wife arrive tomorrow.

I'm now happy that I am all ready and prepared so I wind in both rods, leave everything ready to go at sunset and toddle off for a bit of fun on the back-brook that runs through the fishery. Accompanied by Christian, I have a great time link legering bread and feeling for bites on an old circa 1970's two piece fibre glass rod and pin reel. One snotty bream later from what looks like a muddy ditch that's devoid of fish and I decide it's time to return to my swim, cook some supper and get the big boy rods in.

Here we go, here we go, here we go...

With the news that nothing much is being caught in the way of livebaits (surprising for a lake stuffed with roach and rudd) I decide to leave the livebait rig for tonight and take a chance with the double gobstopper Source boilies and PVA bag attack instead. I can catch a few roach/rudd tomorrow when I've more time etc, and I will fish big chunks of Predator Plus glugged meat on the other rod through the night as well.

After casting in, settling down to a plate full of chilli and rice and a mug of tea, it was time to lay down and snooze and hopefully be awakened by screaming alarms denoting that a monster tadpole had grabbed my baits and was giving it large!

I wasn`t laying down for long though as I heard Mark's alarms going off and I jumped up and enquired if he was in.”Yes, but it isn't a big one I don't think,” he replied, and after a few minutes a kitten slid over the front of my massive landing net. After weighing it and a few pics, the wee beastie was returned alive and well. After a few hearty congratulations and talk of what rig he caught it on, it was time to settle down again. That perfect little predator weighed 6-7lbs, not massive but a cracking start. Fingers crossed I would catch one.

I had dozed off but come 1am I was awake, debating whether to make a cup of tea and pondering what was making my alarms beep but not taking any line. Must be the bream picking at the pellets around my hookbaits? I rose from the pit and went to get a cuppa on the go. Mark's alarms went off and again he was up playing another kitten. This one fell to his improvised dumbbell rig and livebait again and weighed in at 9lbs. Not massive but a perfect miniature copy of its elders, whiskers and all.

Mark kindly gave me a couple of polyballs and I cobbled together a few bits and bobs from my tackle and came up with my own homemade dumbbell rig. Unfortunately I had no live fish baits but some nice big juicy slugs were slithering across my peg, so on the hook they went and out into the depths they slid, never to be seen again.

It was 3am when I woke up quite startled, something had made a b-line for my slugs. It's quite surprising how a hunk of humanity, with a dodgy back and arthritis in both knees can launch himself from his bed and be beside his rods as quick as a flash!

Whatever it was had done a smash and grab on my slugs and buggered off sharpish with the evidence. Ho hum and fiddledy dee I thought, there's always tomorrow night.

Backbrook madness and save us a sausage!

Saturday morning roll call came and went, I was fishless but not disheartened, just being there away from the hassles of work and life was enough for me and a catfish would just make the trip even better.

I sat upon the toilet contemplating such things as the meaning of life, would Tevez sign for United, could my mate Colin get his dodgy DVD friend to do me a copy of Easy Rider and how do I attract a catfish to my bait?

Pop-up boilies had been doing quite well for the big carp, so I decided upon sandwiching slices of cork between halves of bait and still going with glugging and PVA bags of pellets. Christian had some wine corks in his tackle box, he claimed his granny gives him them but as he had spent most of his time laying legs akimbo in the bushes, surrounded by empties, swearing at innocent passersby and telling everyone he was their mate, it was a fair bet he was spending his pocket money at the local cheapo booze store and saving the corks for some weird Aussie hat fetish.

Les and his charming wife had arrived and after a few hellos were busy making camp. It was decided that a shopping party should raid the local Sainsbury's for the evenings BBQ goodies and a trip to the local tackle shop was in order as well, so off a group of us went ferried by Colin into town where much goodies were purchased.

It also gave me and Mark the chance to nip into the toilets and use the sinks for a wash and brush up. I did think of getting me kit off and sitting in a sink like Albert Steptoe and having a good scrub but then the thought of sitting there scrubbing my heavenly body, while folk were using the urinals was just too much for me to bear!

On our return, the supplies were unloaded and Mark, Matty and myself decided to visit the next door café for breakfast. Now the breakfasts there are bloody huge and not meant for women or wimps. You've been warned! So with that in mind Mark struggled across the finish line with his, I gave up within sight of the finishing line and Matty, well kinda didn`t get out of the starting blocks. What hard rugged men we were!

Back at lakeside, it was a nice sunny, warm day and one or two smaller fish had been caught and I decided to fish the backbrook for a couple of hours.

The backbrook that runs through beaver farm is stuffed full of the normal fishy fare and my maggots were being snaffled with gusto and my old style cork bodied float was up and down like a whores gusset! It didn't matter how much disturbance was made from a caught and landed fish, the next in line just couldn`t wait to impale themselves on the hook.

You little beauty

So there I sat fishing away when my float dipped and I struck into something sizeable. It's a chub I thought and a bloody good one as well, gotta keep it away from those reeds, Christ get away from the overhanging bushes I was muttering as this fish was going here there and everywhere! Some maximum sidestrain saw me getting it to the surface and old rubber lips chub turned out to be jack the pike, a beast of around 5lbs or so it looked like. Please don't bite through my line I was pleading as it slid across the water towards my waiting landing net.

All of a sudden the tension in the rod and line was no more as something pinged out of the water and flew past my left ear, into the nettles behind me. I quickly turned around to take a look at whatever it was. Well, bugger me, I said, it was a perch! Hungry Mr Pike must have taken it more or less at the same time the perch snaffled my maggots! He was one lucky little fish though, one or two teeth marks on his flanks, perhaps a little shocked at staring into the face of death but still alive and kicking, so back he went and he swam away strongly.

Most folk would give up after all that commotion but not me, I carried on for a while longer catching some good sized roach and decided that a pic was perhaps in order, just to show folks the potential of this backbrook. I made the mistake of dangling my landing net in the water, sort of keepnet fashion and started to fill it with the roach I was catching. A fine picture these will make I thought to myself but then all hell broke loose!

Jack the pike was back, he charged the net and grabbed one of my roach, he also did a somersault and landed half in the net/over the rim and half in the water. I hurriedly moved the net and he let go and swam off! I sat there all flabbergasted for a moment before doing a roach inspection. I'm not at liberty to say how many were in the net, suffice to say I counted them all in and then counted them all out, with one slightly battle scarred. That was enough for me, so it was back to my peg at the lake for some livebait fishing and the BBQ!

I think the BBQ is a major part of this get-together, it gives everyone the chance to just let their hair down and get to really know each other, after all we are more than just names and pics on a website. Sure we chat to each other in passing while fishing but it's mostly just about that…fishing! The food was excellent and one or two beverages were drunk and we all laughed and joked with other….it went really well. Time flies when you're having fun and it was soon time to return to the small matter of catching a catfish.

My word…..what a big one!!!

Back in my swim I constructed a pop-up rig using Christian's corks and cast out my Source boilies and PVA bag full of pellets within a couple of feet of the right hand island that faced me. I was having doubts over a livebait rig so I put together a rig with huge chunks of sausage which were glugged in Van den Eynde's Predator Plus on the hair. I then proceeded to put this into a PVA bag, along with a good helping of pellets and a damn good extra glugging of the said liquid.

I sat there admiring my handiwork and then watched in horror as the liquid started to melt my bag, all over my left hand! Now any sane person would have quickly thrown the lot in the water or to one side but not me. I sat there kinda transfixed like a rabbit in headlights just looking and gawping and wondering what the hell do I do? I just let the lot fall to the floor, started effing and blinding, cleaned my hands down and proceeded to go with a livebait rig instead.

With rigs cast out I started to settle down for the night. Every so often I would hear beeps from the alarms, line bites, no runs or line being taken but I still readied myself just in case. A resident mouse was dashing in and out of the bankside reeds and scurrying all over my peg, picking up any fallen pellets it could find. I started to doze off. I don't know how long I was asleep but I was wakened and made my way around the lake to matty`s swim to witness what was his new PB carp…a cracking fish of 22lbs. Well done mate.

After a few well dones by the folk who came to look, it was back to my bedchair, there was a bit of a chill developing in the air. Shame really as the day had been warm and sunny. Would the sudden chill put the cats off?

At around 1am Matty woke me up, my monster sling and big boy scales were needed urgently! Is it a cat I asked? No it`s a carp was his reply, the biggest one I've ever caught, it's huge he told me! We hurried around to his peg where Trev was stood holding a collapsed net in the margins, which contained said beast.

Matty struggled to lift the net up onto the unhooking mat, Trev had to grab him by his trouser waistband to steady him and stop him falling in! As the mesh was unfurled, the biggest mirror carp I have ever seen came into view, not a fat and flabby boilie gut fish but a really stocky, chunk of a fish.

The fish was placed into the sling and hoisted up onto the scales. After deductions we settled upon 44lbs. What can you say? It's the fish of a lifetime, Matty will probably never catch a carp as big as that in this country again! A big old catfish will probably be the only way he will beat it. Well done Matty, treasure those memories and the pics.

I fell asleep at about 3am, nothing else was caught and my alarms and hangers were lifeless.

Last throw of the dice and goodbyes.

I was awakened by the sound of ducks waddling around in my peg, picking up pellets and having a crafty go at my open tub of maggots. I checked the time. It was 5.30am. Sod this I thought and I rolled over and went back to the land of nod.

It was soon 9.30am and I was up and reeling in the rods so I could check rigs and re-bait etc. The livebait rod was suffering from a lack of livebait, had the roach jumped ship or had something taken it and I hadn't realised? To be honest I didn't have much faith in it, there is always a nagging doubt as to whether the livebait is still on your hook after casting it in. The trouble is though, you can't keep reeling it in and double checking can you?

I switched over to a bottom fished Source boilie, hoping I might pick up a decent carp or tench even. The popped up source boilies on the other rod were replaced and recast.

I was due to stop on another night but an offer of some cash in hand work was too tempting and so I started to pack up some stuff, ready for the off in the afternoon.

Mark was catching some small carp in swim next to me but nowhere near the size of Matty's big mirror, caught in the early hours. Mark popped over for a chat and as we were talking about the fishing in general etc, I had a run on my popped up, double gob stopper boilie rig. It has to be a cat or big carp I thought, nothing else could fit all that and a bloody big hook into its mouth!

I couldn`t believe my eyes when a bream of about 3lbs popped up on the surface, hooked fairly in the chops and two massive boilies hanging down….greedy little bugger. To add further insult, the little swine flapped around all over me and covered me in slime!

After re-baiting and recasting I started to pack up the rest of the gear, leaving the rods till last, but alas I caught nothing else.

I carried all my gear around to a drop off point and went to say my goodbyes to everyone, no catfish for me again this year but I wasn`t too upset, I enjoyed the break, enjoyed the location and the company of some fantastic and friendly people.

Roll on next year!