‘I DID IT MY WAY’ SAYS CAPTOR OF A UK FIFTY
Greys media manager nails Roids from rock-hard water
D BETTERIDGE banked his first British fifty just the way he wanted to – from a large, low-stock water.
The Greys media manager caught the 50lb 12oz mirror – his tenth over 45lb – from a venue he calls the Boating Lake.
The fish, known as Roids, proved a fitting close to a campaign on the challenging water.
“I have wanted to catch a fifty on my terms,” said Ed, “fishing for the fish I like to catch on the waters that I want to fish.
“There have been a few easier opportunities out there that I have resisted – I don’t want to fish for big stocked fish or on lakes that I don’t have a buzz for. “I like the more natural,
low-stock waters where you have to work things out and stay vigilant in order to catch.”
Ed caught the first of his three target fish from the venue in May – a pb common called Leech’s at 46lb 10oz – before finding one of his other wish list fish dead during the same session.
Setting his sights firmly on Roids, Ed returned to the venue this summer and enjoyed instant success.
“I was getting more than a bite every night, but I decided to keep things to myself because the lake was a lot less busy than it had been before, which was better for my chances of catching. “Then it came, the one I wanted. “I could see it was a big fish as I played it from the boat and I thought it was her, but it wasn’t until I got her in the net and saw the big shoulders that I realised that I had my target.
“I was blown away just to catch her, but the icing on the cake was when the needle on the scales spun past the 50lb mark.”
Ed used a combination of Mainline Cell and a new test bait from the firm. He fished longrunning naked chod rigs made with size 6 Korda Choddy Kaptor hooks and 25lb Mouth Trap.