4lb giant leads great week
4lb 4oz fish best of a string of golden giants reported
THE UK’s longest heatwave for years hasn’t stopped crucians from enjoying a feeding spree with numerous specimens banked topped by a 4lb 4oz monster.
While many of the country’s anglers have been struggling to catch during in the hot weather, those who have been fishing for crucians have been enjoying redhot sport.
One of them is 26-year-old Scott Walker (main picture above), who hooked into a rare 4lb 4oz beauty during a recent session at Lizard Fisheries in West Drayton, London.
He told Angling Times: “I’m a carp angler at heart but when the lakes were busy on this particular day I decided to switch to targeting perch on the float instead.
“I’m a bailiff for this water, so I know there’s a good head of perch in here, but I also know that there’s a stock of big crucians – although they very rarely show.”
Fishing the margins using his 13ft Drennan Float rod, centrepin and pole-float rig with two red maggots on the hook, it wasn’t long before Scott received a number of dips on the float. “I’d been feeding maggots and 2mm Mad Baits pellets over the top and started to catch quickly,” added Scott.
“Within a short space of time I’d caught a number of bream, plus by two proper carp to 23lb 8oz, but my next bite was altogether different.
“The fight felt somewhere between a small carp and a bream, so when the fish rolled on the surface and I saw it was a big, proper crucian, I was ecstatic.
“It was my first-ever crucian and one that I don’t think I’ll beat for a while – it was the perfect session.
“I didn’t bother recasting after I’d slipped her back, I just sat back in my chair in shock.” Meanwhile, Korum-backed
big-fish man Gary Knowles also got himself on to the crucian scoresheet with two fish totalling over 6lb.
His 3lb 3oz specimen was the better of the two and fell to two grains of corn fished over a prebaited, marginal area on an undisclosed stillwater.
He said: “This one was caught on the slightly unusual method of pole fishing. It was a little bit alien to me, but there is no doubt it gives superior presentation when fishing the float.”
Gary later hooked into a 2lb 15oz crucian after moving to a shaded swim with an overhanging tree. A mini Method feeder and a 6mm
Sonubaits Oozing boilie proved too much for this fish to resist.
Godalming AC’s noted Johnson’s Lake played host to Dave Brice’s catch of specimen crucians during a recent trip – and a 3lb 5oz personal best proved to be the diamond among the 12 landed.
The Coventry angler fished Method feeders with sweetcorn hookbaits over a bed of hemp, caster, micro pellets and groundbait to catch all his crucians – seven of which were over the 3lb barrier.
He told Angling Times: “The catch made the long journey home with broken air conditioning slightly more bearable!”