Kieran tells the story of his session in his own words:
“With the weather still looking dull and temperatures still nowhere near reaching double figures, as they should do at this time of year, I decided to go down to a lake I know quite well, Birds Green Top Lake.
I chose this lake because of its history of not only being a good winter water but also having a good head of 20lb plus fish to angle for. I arrived early on a Monday morning to an almost empty lake, with only one more angler on. I decided to set up in a swim that fishes very well at this time of year, around the riverbank side of the island, as this was the swim that had been producing most of the bites in the previous few weeks.
After a full day of fishing with no success I decided that my best bet was to move as I had seen some fish show at the opposite end of the lake, near to where an aerator was positioned. So when five o’clock came I shifted my gear down there for the night and the next day ahead. I had noticed that many people were fishing with large PVA bags and baiting quite heavily with no success, so I decided that fishing single hook baits would be the way to go and I set up a KD rig with a simple lead clip and baited it with a 10mm Mainline Tutti pop-up.
Not long after moving I had my first take, this one came from the margin and was a small mirror of around 11 to 12lb, I slipped it back and re-positioned the rods for the night.
I awoke after a quiet night’s sleep to a clean 15lb Common early in the morning around 6am just as it was beginning to get light, once again on a single orange hook bait. I re-cast the rods again but it wasn’t until 11am when my rod that was placed only about two rod lengths from the pump screamed off, resulting in a nice 23lb mirror; a fish that has gone over 25lb in the past.
Chuffed with the fish I re-cast the rods once again, quite content and satisfied with my session but just before packing up a few hours later I had my final take in the shape of another nice stocky at just over double figures – a good end to a cold session when most others blanked.”
