Welly 50 plus brace of forties
Gaskin’s having a superb season
IT’S safe to say no-one is having a season like the one David Gaskin is currently enjoying.
A 54lb 4oz mirror was his fourth fifty of 2016 and his sixth fish over 46lb since the turn of the year.
The new personal best, like his other chunks, came from Berkshire’s Wellington Country Park and was stealthily tripped up on single-rod tactics.
Arriving at the big-fish syndicate after work, David found the venue surprisingly empty. He said: “There was a stern south-westerly breeze pushing into the top end of the lake so my attention was drawn to this area, thinking the fish would be enjoying the turbulent, oxygenated water.
“I was convinced I saw subtle signs of fish poking their heads out among the waves.”
However, despite the promising signs, David endured a blank night before going for another look around the lake the next morning.
“There is a treeline of snags in another bay that the fish like to get in to sunbathe,” he said. “On closer investigation I could see there was a set of bubbles, and a carp was likely to be the culprit. That was all I needed to see.
“I decided to fish only one rod for the afternoon to keep disturbance to a minimum. It took two casts to get the rod tight enough to a little opening in a bush where I’d seen the activity, so I just hoped that it wasn’t too much commotion.”
David didn’t have to wait long for the bite. “Knowing that this fish was 58lb-plus last time out didn’t help, but the leviathan struggled over the net cord and the game was up. ‘Happy’ was an understatement!” he said.