UK PB’s For Disaster Caster & Niblet

… On Our First Session Together In Fifteen Years

This unexpected result on an unknown water proves we haven’t lost our touch.  It was made all the more remarkable because of the very short space of time in which we had to prepare for the session, due to a last minute change to the booking.  As it often happens when you are poorly organised, lack a plan, and are the least confident you have a red letter day like this.

Not long after we set up the heavens opened and we dived for cover.  The wind pounded into our bank and what little confidence I had dwindled, and I was beginning to think planting myself on peg 13 was a mistake?  It came as a pleasant surprise to hear DC call out about 7.30pm “I’m on!”  I legged over to his swim and netted a very lively mirror of 14lb 12oz for him, which we were equally stoked with.

The rain held off overnight, though it remained very windy, and I was happy of the shelter of the Fox Euro bivvy.  It was so cosy in fact that I even managed to get in about five hours kip, while my buzzers continued to remain silent.  I’d just peeled myself out of the fart sack and got a brew on when I heard DC call out “I’ve got another one!”  I was quite surprised as I’d not heard his buzzer go.  But our chins hit the floor when we clocked a proper look at the fish on the mat… it looked every bit a thirty!  Once we’d deducted the weight of the sling from the 31lb 4oz on the dial, we realised that DC had just missed the thirty mark by a few ounces.  Though it was still a PB mirror for him at a whopping 29lb 8oz!

At 2 : nil I was convinced that sitting on peg 13 wasn’t such a good idea after all?  Then the stationary swinger on the right-hand rod slammed into butt… and I was on!  At 17lb 9oz it was a new UK PB for a mirror – I was overjoyed and thankful that neither of us had blanked on this debut sesh.

I’d walked up the bank to have a quick chat with DC,and I’d only been standing there with him for about a minute when the ATT remote in my pocket screamed into life, startling us both!  I did a legger along the bank, and the RH rod was away again, as I lifted into it there was no doubt it felt like a lot better fish.  I played it very gingerly as I knew it was a potential PB, though the size 8 barbless hook did nothing for my confidence. However, it was a good hookhold and my patience was rewarded with a mint 24lb 14oz common.

About an hour before our scheduled pack up an almost scaleless mirror of 17lb 10oz woke up the LH rod for the first time to give me a very respectable trio of fish.

This was the first time DC and I had fished in England together since 1995, and we couldn’t have hoped for a better result.  I’d initially looked upon our 24hr session as an opportunity to try out all the gear on loan from from Stuart and Vince.  So this brilliant outcome exceeded all my expectations, seeing as I was using kit I was completely unfamiliar with.

Happy hippo hunting

Niblet

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