"We realised this session may be a bit tougher than we’d originally hoped!"
An early start with an 1.5hr drive to reach Crowsheath Fishery in Essex for 7am. What a stunning place! Really well kept and the pictures of some of the fish we’d seen before arriving showed some incredible fish to be had… Proper scaly bangers and immense commons! Here we are the first TMC social of 2024!
We’d heard ‘Barry’ one of the named 30’s had been caught the night before so went on with some confidence, but after chatting with a few others on the way round to the swims who’d had nothing, we realised this session may be a bit tougher than we’d originally hoped! Nonetheless, we watched the water, kept our confidence and started getting the traps set.
I got set up, lightly baited a few spots using some loose and crushed secret sauce boilies with a small amount of house pellet. I watched the water but there was a real chop on the water with a strong NW wind that made spotting any signs tough! It was a difficult one to gauge and as we’d pre-booked swims we needed to make the most of what we had infront of us.
Nothing happened until young Freddy showed us oldies how it’s done with a cracking 18lber on the second evening. What a fish and what an amazing little angler Freddy has proved himself to be already – really listening and taking it all in – this lad is one to watch!
An incredible moment I won’t forget any time soon, truly made up for him. Nothing else through the second night although the wind changed and conditions looked promising for the following morning. I lightly topped up the bait for the night and reset the traps.
I immediately realised it was one of the gooduns and potentially PB territory!
It was the morning of the last day, sun had started to noticeably warm everything up and before I knew it, my left hand rod went off! This was on a shallower spot just to the left of the point of the island opposite.
Having had several hook pulls on previous sessions, I was trying a new combi rig I haven’t fished with much before. A stiff boom section them soft braid with coating stripped at the last section tied to a size 6 wide gape with, of course, the legendary Baylys Baits Venom Wafter in the Secret Sauce flavour to match the pre-bait.
As the fish came closer, Ben, who was fishing in the double swim with me, helped me land it after an amazing scrap! A few proper nervy moments with this one as I’d seen a few glimmers of a potential belter! As it slid over the net I immediately realised it was one of the gooduns and potentially PB territory!
"Nothing quite beats getting a PB with a bunch of mates"
The lads gathered round whilst we weighed this stunning Crowsheath banger of a mirror, with awesome ‘apple slice’ scales and it tipped the scales at 26lb 8oz, beating my PB by a few ounces and edging me closer to 30lb territory! Absolutely over the moon.
After a few pics and water shots, as well as an obligatory PB bucket off she went back into the lake.
Nothing quite beats getting a PB with a bunch of mates and this topped all others to date. Not only have I now got a massive confidence boost in a relatively new rig I’ve added to the arsenal, with the fish absolutely nailed, but also a further grown confidence in a devastating high leakage hook bait that is ‘The Venom’ – in this case wafter from the Secret Sauce range, what a fish, what a rig and what an absolutely quality bait that without doubt gave me a real edge on this water. Will be buzzing off this one for a while to come!
