Hot tactics working for the best catches and the biggest fish
Tom Maker enjoys a purple patch in a hot Linear swim
AN eight-hour day session was all Tom Maker needed to bank a dozen fish to 31lb at Linear Fisheries.
The England international winkled out five doubles, six twenties to 28lb 15oz and a 31lb mirror from the Brasenose Two complex in Oxfordshire.
Said Tom: “It was going to be a cold, sunny day, so driving up to Oxford I was questioning why I even got out of bed at 5.30am – but I wasn’t going to catch anything sitting at home!
“This being a Friday I had no idea how busy the lakes were and whether or not I would even find a peg, but I knew I wanted to head for B2 and fish somewhere in the bowl area.
“To my amazement one of the causeway swims was free – handbrake wrenched up and bucket in hand, I soon had a peg. Panic over!”
Tom clipped his rods up to 24 wraps (96 yards) and put an initial seven spods of bait over the top. He said: “I was rocking and rolling by 9am. It was bitterly cold with a real biting westerly blowing into me, but the sun was shining so I knew there was a chance of a bite.”
Still fishless by 11am, Tom decided to spod some more bait out to scare off the coots that had been diving over his spot.
“As I was winding in the third spod my middle rod went into meltdown and I was attached to a slow-moving carp.
“The fish didn’t really do much on the way in and I soon had a scaly upper double in the net.
“With the rod straight back on the spot it was as though someone had flicked a switch – bites came thick and fast for the rest of the afternoon, and keeping the bait going in just kept them coming.
“In total I landed 12 carp and lost one, with the biggest going over the magical 30lb mark. Not bad for a cold January day!”