Two PBs in one great day

GIDEON McDERMOTT, EMAIL

My dad and I went fishing at Pool Bridge Farm Fishery in York. We set up a carp rod and a couple of float rods and I catapulted out some dog biscuits too see if any carp would take off the top. We didn’t notice anything for a while until we heard a large fish jump out of the water. When I saw this, I packed up my float rod and tied on a size 10 hook, using one of the IYCF's fake dog biscuits that I had got free in one of the previous issues.

I freelined this to a large mirror carp who was slurping up the biscuits floating on the top. I waited for a couple of minutes and kept firing out handfuls of dog biscuits and it wasn’t long before the big mirror came up and took my bait. I was in!

After a long fight on 5lb line and a 10ft float rod, I managed to slip this carp into my landing net. It weighed 14lb 12oz and was my biggest ever catch, having previously landed an 11lb common on the pole.

But this wasn’t the end of it. Having returned the mirror to the pond, I flicked out my bait while firing in dog biscuits to try and attract more carp.

I decided to let my dad have a go and while we saw several come up to peer at the bait, for some reason they wouldn’t take it and they spooked away.

After about 30 minutes of my dad unsuccessfully trying to catch off the top, he went back to his float rod to catch some more skimmers, and I took over the rod again.

All of a sudden, this lean common came up and took the fake biscuit. This fine specimen ran me all over the lake! As I was only using fine line I was scared to put too much pressure on the fish so I kept my rod low and let it keep running. After a gruelling 30- minute fight I managed to land the fish, weighing 18lb 9oz, a second personal best that day!

I am 12 years old and have been fishing since I was 10.

I have been completely hooked ever since I cast my first rod. I think it is really important that youngsters are getting involved in fishing as we need the next generation to keep the sport alive.

If you would like to see the fish in more detail, my YouTube channel is Manchester Angler.