Davy Claus relays a tale of when unrelenting persistence and flexibility in his angling paid off.
Sam Verstreken – Belgian Haul
24th June 2020
Sam Verstreken gets it right on an 80 acre+ Belgian pit…
A few weeks ago I returned to a lovely Belgian pit for a 2 night session and with the weather finally looking a bit better, the confidence was high.
Upon arrival there were a couple of other anglers about, so I started looking for some fish in the back area of the lake where it was a bit calmer. It didn’t take long before I saw a fish jump followed by another one not long after. Without hesitation I positioned a rod were I just had seen the fish show. After doing this, I quietly started unpacking but this was brutally interrupted by an absolute screamer of a run. After a short but strong fight I was able to put my net under a lovely 27lb 12oz mirror. What a nice way to start the session!
After this instant success, I recast my rod to the same area with a minimum of disturbance in the hope I didn’t scare off the other fish in the area. During the night that followed I had another run on the same rod and it rapidly became clear that this was a better fish. The fight progressed slowly and once in the net, my initial feeling turned out to be correct and I was rewarded with a lovely 45lb 13oz mirror. With this fish the session was already made and I was absolutely over the moon.
Little did I know that things would only get better. Just before first light I had another take and again I could tell this wasn’t a small one either! This fight was a lot more demanding and I was forced to block the fish several times so it could not reach some snags close in. Once in the net I couldn’t believe my luck, this looked like another forty pounder. The scale brought confirmation and I was rewarded with another lovely 44lb12oz mirror. What a result!!
The day after everything stayed quite but during the second night I was able to catch another 35lb 01oz mirror and a 22lb common. After this really enjoyable session I went home as a very happy man, lovely times!
Sam constructed his faithful Spinner rigs from Thinking Anglers Camstiff 35lb, Curve Point size 5 hooks, Olive Leadcore and size 11 Ring Swivels.
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