Davy Claus relays a tale of when unrelenting persistence and flexibility in his angling paid off.
Simon Kenny – December 50!
14th December 2018
Simon Kenny – December 50!
Simon Kenny really had had the season of seasons! With his epic Horton campaign ending in real style back in the summer, his move onto Kingsmead 1 was a smooth transistion and Simon’s angling went from strength to strength with the captures of a few of the key mirrors coming early. But the past few weeks have been nothing short of incredible with the initial capture of a big mirror followed by something truly awesome! Simon recounts the stories of the past few weeks…
“The fishing has been slow lately on Kingsmead 1 but this week I was confident of a bite. I blanked the previous week’s session but by moving swims a few times I had managed to locate some fish although I didn’t see any show I’d received numerous liners from a certain area of the lake. At the end of that trip I’d had a good lead about and found a nice firm spot in the rough area where the liners where coming from – I made sure to bait this area ready for the following week. So, I dropped straight back in that area, no fish had been caught that weekend. But I was hoping the bait had worked. It was late afternoon by the time my rods where out and as the sun began to set, I’d already received the odd liner after dark; I even heard one lump out… this was the best chance I’d had in a few weeks I went to sleep very confident. About midnight the middle rod pulled up tight – that turned out to be a mid-double. I re-did the rod and put a bit more bait in the area. Just before first light the same rod pulled up and yet again another of the lakes smaller residents, I unhooked it in the net and just as I was letting it go the left hand rod pulled up tight so as you can imagine as I struck into this one I was praying it wouldn’t be another stocky. I was met with solid resistance and the fish just slowly started plodding and stripping line, this was no stocky! Sure enough, after a very heavy fight I was staring down at a beautiful, chestnut coloured mirror and she was big! She spun the scales around to 44lb 4oz. Being the only one there I did a few self takes – it was a fantastic feeling slipping that fish back… I really felt I’d earned it. The following 2 nights passed by quietly, but I made sure to trickle some more bait in the area before I left. Little did I know what would be in store for me the following trip…
I couldn’t wait to get back to the lake after my 44 the week before, I felt sure the spot would produce more fish.
I turned up at Kingsmead about midday on the Sunday and had the lake to myself. I did a quick lap but with nothing to go on I dropped back in the point swim, where I’d caught from the previous week. I’d put a bit of bait in here the week before so it was a good starting point. The first night passed by very quietly I didn’t see or hear anything. On the Monday evening I started getting the odd liner and just on dusk I caught a stocky. This was a good sign as last week my action started with a stocky. I put more bait out after re-doing the rod. Around midnight I was woken up by the middle rod howling… this was no stocky and turned out to be a fish called Bob’s Mate at 37lb 6oz. Again, I re-did the rod and put more bait out. First light and yet again the middle rod woke me up and this fish was very slow and heavy, it seemed to just hug the bottom and took an age to get it into the margin. I’d seen her roll a few times and saw it was a very big mirror. When I managed to net her, I couldn’t believe how big she looked. I was fairly sure it was a fish known as Armageddon and it looked massive. Sure enough, she spun the scales around to 50lb 10oz! A December 50 was more than I could have wished for. The remaining night passed by quietly and I made sure to spread a bit of bait out there before I packed up for work on the Wednesday morning.’