53-POUNDER BANKED ON FIRST VISIT TO FISHERY

Midnight battle ends with pb

HEAVY baiting with boilies at long range helped Robert Rees to smash his personal best by almost 13lb with this gorgeous 53lb 15oz mirror.

The 29-year-old was fishing as a guest at Grenville Lake in Cambridgeshire – his first-ever visit to the 72-acre gravel pit – and landed the fish following the only bite of his 48-hour session.

Robert said: “The take came around midnight and the fight was intense, with the fish taking 50 yards of line on the initial run, followed by a very slow, dogged fight at range. I had a slight panic when my line got caught around my friend’s lines as the fish neared the bank and I wasn’t quite able to reach it with the landing net, despite being up to my chest in water in my waders. I took the plunge in the end and got him into the net!”

The fish was caught on a Sticky Baits Signature Squid pop-up presented on a Ronnie Rig, with a 10ins boom of 18lb fluorocarbon ending in a size 6 Korda Krank hook. Robert paired this with a safety lead clip set-up and, as leaders are banned at the venue, small blobs of putty up his mainline to help sink it near the rig end. The area he fished to was around 30ft deep, and Robert opted for a heavy baiting approach. He said: “The spot I was fishing was relatively barren, so I used the bait as a ‘feature’ in itself. I introduced around 12kg of 12mm and 15mm glugged Krill boilies on the first night, followed by 8kg on the final evening. The owners encourage heavy baiting, and the stock of big carp in Grenville is incredible!”