Chapel Lake
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It was their third visit to Chapel Lake in as many years and proved to be a somewhat mixed bag initially. But in the end it all came good.
After some of the most horrible weather, which most of France is experiencing at the moment, and then a slow start, the weather picked up for a few days and the guys tenacity finally paid off.
First off the mark was Jon Blackall who, on late Sunday night, had a 62lb 8oz mirror from the Donkey Swim. This fish fell to BaitWorld's special order 'Crablicious' Boilies. Jon's legendary 'Stumpy Rig' also played a big part in the capture.
Jon's 62lb 8oz whopper
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The monster mirror gave a great fight, with the lilies causing some heart stopping moments. Twice it got jammed in the lilies and they thought it was going to get away. But constant pressure pulled it through. The guys got the fish on video but forgot to get it on camera during all the excitement, so the pictures aren't great but that's life sometimes.
This major excitement was followed by a number of 'quiet' days. A few fish came out from 4lb - 25lb and they lost “a biggie”, estimated at 50 -60lb, but the weather and temperature change was making it difficult.
In an effort to find the fish they moved around the lake and then, suddenly at about 1.00am on Thursday, on the dam wall, Ray Poolman's alarm went off and he began his fight with, in his words “a Monster”.
When it rains it pours and as Ray continued his fight Andy Vicarey had a run on the Point Swim and went off to attend to that.
Ray was losing 'bundles' of line and realised he had a serious big cat on the end of his line. Meanwhile Andy had landed his fish with Den's help and shouts were coming across that they had landed 'Big Bob' at 55lb 8oz.
Ray finally got his catch to the side but couldn't get it in the landing net, so Andy jumped in and lifted the cat's tail into the net.
The huge cat weighed in at 95lb 7oz!
It was caught on a barbless size 6 Hook with a 12lb hooklink.
As Ray put it:
“We all had a great time.”
As a footnote, the party have had a major fish out every time they have visited Chapel Lake.
Top geezers and top anglers!
Well done boys!
Want2Fish
