BUMPER BLUEBELL HIT
‘Dave’ at 55lb tops mega haul from day-ticket fishery
DA LAST minute-decision to switch lakes paid off in handsome style for Steve Wright after he went on to bank four stunning big carp, topped by a 55lb mirror. After making the journey from his Hinckley, Leicestershire home to Bluebell Lakes in Northants, the 63-year old was intending to fish the venue’s Sandmartin Lake. However, this changed after a quick chat with the owner of Bluebell Lakes, Tony Bridgefoot.
Steve said: “He told me that there weren’t many anglers on Swan Lake. I didn’t really fancy it as there had been no carp out in the previous nine days, but a mate who was fishing over there convinced me to give it a try for the night. I dropped into a peg halfway down one bank, in the
hope of catching them as they moved up and down the lake.”
With just two tench to show for his efforts over the next 24 hours, Steve was beginning to question his choice of lake, before a bite out of the blue signalled a major change in fortunes.
“I was thinking of moving and I’d already reeled one rod when one of the others screamed off. The fish made it into a weedbed but soon came out into open water, and I felt the rod tip bump so I knew it was still on,” said Steve.
“When I got the fish around 20 yards from the bank it surfaced and I recognised it as one known as Dave. On the bank it tipped the scales at 55lb on the nose.”
At 4am the next morning Steve’s session then got even better when he landed a 40lb 4oz mirror, followed by a 32lb 4oz common an hour later and a 39lb mirror later that same evening. The first of the trio was a new ‘forty’ for the lake, so Steve was allowed to give it a name… which he promptly did, calling the big mirror ‘Stevie’!”