Davy Claus relays a tale of when unrelenting persistence and flexibility in his angling paid off.
Tom Ringhofer – ‘Like Buses’
24th May 2019
Tom Ringhofer sent over a report from Austria with the results of a recent short session where everything just slotted into place and the biguns just rolled in like buses! A real highlight of a few years on the water and a trip full of monsters!
‘I have just had a mega 24h session, with plenty of fish caught including my target fish alongside 3 of the 5 biggest fish in the lake! My target was a fish known as Browny, a big chestnut brown mirror of course, and one I had pursued and dreamed of since I got my ticket two years ago. She finally paid me a visit at the end of this trip and what a carp weighing in at 60lbs13oz !
The first mirror I caught used to be the biggest fish in the lake but was a little down in weight, at 59lb 12oz – a mega fish , this was turning into a dream session.
The third of the session was another dark brown mirror known as the Milf at a new top weight of 55lb 1oz.
Last but not least I caught what I have been told is the oldest fish in the lake, known as the First Lady weighing in at 53lb 9oz! I was blown away!
Although it may seem and look like a runs water from this result and what I caught in this session, it definitely isn’t the case, a run of the big fish like this far far removed from being the norm so I feel truly privileged. All the fish were taken on 20mm Krill Bottom Baits straight out the bag, cut into a dumbbell shape and a tiny pva bag of Krill clusters.
Rig wise I went for a Slip D-Rig made out of 25lb Tungskin and my favourite Size 5 TA Straight Eye hooks. The majority of fish was caught over a big spread of 20mm Krill Boilies. I put in 5kg when I arrived and topped it up after every fish I caught.
Due to heavy rainfall in the past couple of days the water level was very high and although hardly any fish get caught from the margins it looked prime for a bite. So I baited two marginal spots in the evening and placed a rig on one of them the following morning. Around 11am I caught the first of the two big ones on the margin rod less than two meters from the bank. After that I placed the rod on the other margin spot only around 70cm from the bank. An hour later it produced my target fish brownie.