David Gaskin proving that good, solid watercraft is extremely important when fishing for these prizes we all want so much!
“Arriving at the lake and light fading I had a quick look around, and it was evident that the warmer day temperatures had encouraged the carp to congregate in the upper layers. There were enough subtle signs to make it clear that there were a few carp in the area. With temperatures still cooling significantly during the night, I hedged my bets and fished two on the deck and the other on a Zig. Late in the evening, a fished showed no more than 20 yards out in a feeding fashion rather than a ‘parasitic shedding’ fashion, so I wound in the Zig rod, changed over to a Manilla Popup and repositioned it where I saw the fish show. With a firm enough thud on the lead, I was confident the rig was presented and given the short range, it was easy enough to catapult a few Manilla freebies around it. The simple tactic worked as I had the work alarm traded for a Delkim hitting the high note. After a dogged fight, the big angry mirror was in the net, and after inspecting each flank, I recognised it to be the king of the pond at an all time high of 51lb 06oz!”