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After getting strict orders that we was spending the wk end together from her indoors and knowing that a happy wife = a happy life my only angling was to be on a local club water after work Friday so I could be home bright and early Saturday morning ! Catfish was the quarry and a quick trip to matey boys house and 20mins sat in traffic on the M56 seen us get to the water a little after 6. It’s the small snaggy pool I’d fished a few wks back the walk to the pegs are short and with an on-site toilet it’s a lovely little stress free water perfect to unwind after a long wk in work. We opted for a double peg so first thing was a brew and smoke and decide our plan of action. Two rods was positioned one by a set of lillies and the other placed by hand on the far bank under a snaggy old tree. A couple of kilo of pellet maize hemp and chops all soaked in a fishy liquid 🤢was dumped over my large snowman hook bait Food was made brews brewed and we sat up to around midnight chatting and putting the world to rights (as you do) 🙄After a long day it didn’t take long to doze off and taking a pee around 2am not a beep to either rod and the pool looking pretty lifeless tbh I did hold out much hope for a fish. At around 3am a one toner had me out of my pit and after a spirited 5 min battle this 12,7 was safely in the net. The rod was recast to the same spot and a kilo of pellet dispatched over it as I drifted off to sleep as the dawn chorus started 😎 After a few hours dozing I was lying on my bed sipping a brew thinking bite time was over as the bream and small carp started to show themselves around the pool when at 7am a screaming take had me on the same rod that was recast. Straight away the fish charged down to the opposite end of the lake and no amount of pressure was going to stop it I just simply held on. 3x I got it from round the back of a small island and every time it just charged back round it 🙄🤣 after 15mins the runs it made had slowed down and it sought sanctuary under a tree everything went a bit solid and I was fearing the worse. A change of angle and the rod held high I got something moving around 12inches and said to matey boy it’s either big or I’m bringing in a branch when the rod tip gave a satisfying nod as the fish was still attached. After another little drama when the fish kited left to go under a tree I was pretty much in control by then and got it up on the surface and after a few mins of it wallowing around we tried to net it but it wouldn’t fit in !!! On the second attempt with it half in the net matey boy leaned over grabbed the tail and placed it in the net ! Result ! I let the fish rest for 20mins and to have a rest myself I brewed up had a cig and peered into the net with a huge smile on my face. Weighed and pics we watched her slink back into the water as she swam away casually. It was the biggest fish in the lake the biggest fish I’d ever caught and obviously a new PB cat. My second PB of the week and my 3rd this year !!!! 😎 She went 47,11 on the scales and I sat there with a massive smile on my face.Another mate turned up for bacon buttys and coffee and we started the slow pack down and before we knew it was sat in traffic again as the Saturday day trippers made their way to Wales Her indoors was less than impressed with my smelly clothes and I was ordered to shower and change as she had a few jobs for me to do then an afternoon of family time all done with a massive smile on my face 😬 I know cats ain’t everyone’s cup of tea but the battle/fight they give is amazing and I for one enjoy targeting them. Thanks for reading ! 😬😎🎣

It's all about building up the fishes confidence. The longer they feed freely and without anything untoward happening, the more confident they become and the more the larger fish will bully their way to the front of the feeding queue. I've witnessed it happening in clear rivers and it does take several hours of baiting and waiting until you can achieve that. I used to bait about 6 spots and visit and watch them over a few hours and then normally a large smelly bait placed in the swim on dark could result in an instant bite and with a high average size. Baiting in the margins will allow you to lower a bait dropper and your bait into the swim with minimal disturbance and less bait will be washed out of the swim by the current.

Ive seen this happen i had thrown out a load or corn and there was one 20+ pound Carp that hung back and let all the small ones have a good old feed and then it would come in.. but it would spook really easily and take off out into the deeper water.

There is a school of thought that believes larger, older, more experienced carp may hang back and let the young ones bust into any concentration of bait while they wait for bits to wash down in the current and they take those because they know they're safe. In the past I have been rewarded by imagining my bait as a comet on the bottom, and aiming my rig near the end of the tail, or just beyond it.

With them that close I'd try surface fishing with bread or pellets, or go for a pellet waggler fished about a foot or two under. Lovely looking fish if you can catch them! It may even be worth your while putting up a "scarecrow" so they're used to seeing someone "standing" on the bank? (Or is that just a crazy idea!? lol)