The 44lb 8oz fish was tricked from a spot in 45ft of water, whilst the Lincolnshire-based rod endured a blustery night at the tricky venue.

The monster from the deep is a new personal best and fell to Gary’s tactics on the first night of a 48-hour session just before Christmas.

“I never thought I’d get it in,” said Gary. “Every time I got it up the steep margins it would turn around. It felt a bit weighty but I didn’t know how big it was at the time – I was just glad of a bite at this time of year.”

The 55-year-old took the fish at just 20 yard range. It was tempted by a boilie fished on a Korda N-Trap hooklink and a size 8 Korda hook.

Gary said: “I was fishing in about 45ft of water on what felt like a ledge. It was a smooth area with a bit of silt near it. I arrived there at about 3pm and I had the take at 9.30pm.

“When I started there was a south-easterly wind and I was on the back of it. I knew it was changing direction and when it turned around I thought my time was up – but all of a sudden the rod was off.

“It was pitch black and windy so I didn’t really know how big it was until it was on the mat.”

Tackle Fanatics hope you enjoyed your festive break and wish you lots of luck for 2013. To view our massive range of bait and tackle please click here.

Darrell managed to not only catch his 40^th fish over 40lb, but did it in style by landing a 50lb 8oz mirror, his first ever 50lb+ fish, during a session on a southern gravel pit.

To cap this feat he also landed fish of 26lb, 39lb 8oz and 42lb 8oz!

The Korda employees’ session didn’t get off to a brilliant start when he was informed that the lakes second biggest resident had been caught from a swim that he had been focusing on.

Although disappointed, the Essex-based carp catching machine dropped into a different swim where he had recently caught fish to over 40lb from and cast his hinged-stiff rigs out to a spot at 165 yards.

He then baited the area with a scattering of a new boilie on test from Mainline. It didn’t take long for Darrell to receive his first bite of the session.

“After a slow and heavy fight I bundled a huge, thickset mirror in to the net,”.

“When I hoisted it on to the scales I was delighted to see the needle settle on 50lb 8oz. Despite catching Two Tone at 65lb and having 38 other fish over 40lb I’ve never actually had a fifty before. I’ve come close on a couple of occasions with the Fat Lady from St Ives at over 49lb as well as Babyface from Charity Lakes in Norfolk close to the magical mark too. The catch was made extra special as this was the first time the mirror known as Single Scale has broken the 50lb barrier.”

He didn’t stop there, and over the next couple of days his pop-up hookbaits bagged mirrors of 26lb and 42lb 8oz along with a new lake record common on 39lb 8oz!

Planning on getting out and bagging yourself a monster? Tackle Fanatics stock a huge range of bait and tackle from all the leading manufacturers. Please click here to visit our website.

The scoring power of maggots for large chub has been proven once again this week with a fish over the 7lbs barrier landed.

Raphael Kyte demonstrated experience beyond his years when he tweaked his hookbait across the bed of a swollen River Great Ouse to bank a cracking 7lb 11oz specimen.

The 14 year-old Northants based schoolboy found his favourite stretch of the river way above its normal level due to the recent heavy rains, so headed to an area off the main flow where he thought some fish might be holding up in the slacks.

After tackling up in a swim with an overhanging tree on the far bank he cast a simple maggot feeder rig set up over to the feature and repeated the process every 15 minutes in a bid to build up the peg with some loose offerings and to tempt any resident fish out from the snags. With a triple maggot hookbait Raphael made the presentation of his set up even more appealing by slowly edging his rig back towards him before reeling in.

“After about an hour I felt a very heavy fish pulling back against the rod tip,” said Raphael. “It took me about 10 minutes to get it to my own bank and even then it kept trying to bore under the rushes by my feet. I finally got the better of it and called my dad, Patrick, to come and help with the weighing. On the scales it smashed my old best of 4lb 9oz which I caught from the River Nene in the summer.”

New PB Chub for happy Raphael

If you have been successful with some big chub catches why not let us know by emailing russ@tacklefanatics.co.uk or duncan@tacklefanatics.co.uk

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Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.

Daiwa Dorking’s Jimmy Bullard won the Royal Berkshire Silvers Festival overall with an impressive combined weight of 62lb 12oz. This consisted of bream, skimmers and roach in an event that produced many bites for all the competitors.

Day One winner from peg 16 on Lake 3 was Jimmy Bullard with 50lb 2oz of skimmers and bream, caught on pellet and pole at 14.5m. The winner on Lake 1 on the Day was Milo Bordon’s Andy Gregory on peg 6, he had another impressive bag of 36lb 6oz, which consisted of all roach to over 1lb. Andy caught on Maggot and Caster over ground bait at 13m on the pole with a few coming out on rod and line waggler tactics.

Day Two fished slightly harder as you would expect from this time of the season – on Lake 3 not as many skimmers and bream fed, however this didn’t stop Garbolino Banstead’s Terry Molloy bagging 27lb of Roach off peg 13 and this was enough to win it on the day. Second was England International Steve Gardener on peg 5 who managed 21lb 8oz of all roach which were caught shallow on pole and maggot at 13m.

All in all it was a terrific event organised by 15 year old Marukyu backed angler Bradley Gibbons who recently showed his class by individually winning the Surrey Winter League with three section wins and three section seconds against top anglers including the Dorking squad.

Jimmy Bullard with part of his Silvers Festival win

Result, Day 1:

1. Jimmy Bullard, Daiwa Dorking, 50lb 02oz
2. Andy Gregory, Milo Bordon, 36lb 06oz
3. Geoff Vallance, Preston Delcac, 27lb 12oz
4. Dave Guntrip, Browning Crowsport, 27lb 09oz
5. Steve Gardener, Daiwa Dorking, 26lb 05oz
6. Mark Goddard, Daiwa Dorking, 25lb 07oz

Result, Day 2:

1. Terry Molloy, Garbolino Banstead, 27lb 00oz
2. Steve Gardener, Daiwa Dorking, 21lb 08oz
3. Simon Willsmore, Daiwa Dorking, 20lb 08oz
4. Andrew Quarmby, Middy Tackle, 18lb 06oz
5. Russell Grimes, Milo Bordon, 18lb 02oz
6. Thomas Morreti, Browning Crowsports, 18lb 00oz

Result, Overall:

1. Jimmy Bullard, Daiwa Dorking, 62lb 12oz
2. Andy Gregory, Milo Bordon, 49lb 14oz
3. Steve Gardener, Daiwa Dorking, 47lb 13oz

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Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.

The trip were caught from an overhanging tree on the far margin at 100 yards where he had spotted fish moving.

“On the second morning I had an occurrence on one rod – the bobbin pulled up tight but when I picked up the rod there was nothing attached.”

“Within 10 minutes of putting it back out on the spot it screamed off and this time I successfully landed a 25lb 2oz common.”

This was followed by the smallest fish of the trip before his new personal best slipped up early in the evening. “I’ve never had a fight like it – it just kept stripping line and I just had to hold on until it tired itself out.”

Dan’s setup consisted of a fruit flavoured bottom bait and a pop-up fished snowman style on a coated braid hooklink and a size 8 Nash Fang Twister hook. Tackle Fanatics have all the tackle and bait you need to get out on the bank. We stock a huge range of top brands including, Nash, Mainline, Century, Shimano, Daiwa and Fox. Please feel free to browse our website by clicking here.

The 23-year-old ex-British Carp Angling Champion fished just 12 hours, which resulted in five fish to 33lb 10oz!

Luke said: “It was caught along with a 22lb 14oz mirror during an eight-hour day session at a local day-ticket fishery.

“I was fishing at around 70 yards in between a channel of two islands and used 12mm CC Moore Secret Obsession pop-ups with a small PVA mesh bag of the CC Moore Active Feast bag mix.

“I was casting across to the far bank at around 80 yards and walking round to bait up with 2mm trout pellets provided. The hookbait was an 8mm Mini Bitez from CC Moore.”

Luke’s successful end tackle featured an eight-inch Gardner Sly Skin hooklink and a size 10 Mugga hook with 12lb GT80+ mainline.

Tackle Fanatics stock a huge range of Gardner products along with a massive array of bait and tackle from manufacturers such as Mainline, Dynamite, Korda, Fox and Daiwa. Please feel free to browse our website by clicking here.

The Peterborough-based angler received a number of line bites and had several fish show over his spot before he had the bite.

He said: “The weather was really cold with temperatures dropping down to minus four and there was a north westerly wind blowing for the whole of my 48 hour session. This is my third year as a winter ticket member of the syndicate and is the first fish I have banked.”

Mike used 10mm Mainline Baits Milky Toffee pop-up over a handful of freebies on a hinged-stiff rig tied with 25lb Fox Rigidity and a size 5 Arma Point SR hook.

Tackle Fanatics are a full Fox and Mainline stockist and also offer their customers a massive array of bait and tackle from a number of leading manufacturers. Please visit our website by clicking here.

The first leg of the Maver Bait Tech Pairs Competition took place this weekend, with big weights showcasing the brilliant roach sport that can be had on the Lincolnshire Fens. Conditions didn’t look too good on the Town Welland; the river was looking chocolate brown and stood virtually still with all the main river flow going down the Coronation Channel. Luckily the roach decided to have a real feed with over 750lbs of quality roach tipped on the scales. The twenty-six pairs fishing averaged over 14lb a man and to be honest you can’t get much better than that for quality sport!
Winner on the day with 30lb 2oz was Joe Oakes, who fished bread punch short, and hemp and tares on the pole at 11 metres. The latter method bringing him some real quality roach up to 1lb 8oz with these big fish tipping the match in his favour. Runner-up was Town Welland master Bob Nudd who after a slow start slipped 180 roach into his net for 28lb 4oz, again on long poleand bread punch. Third with 27lb 7oz was Steve Winters who had over 200 fish on punch, but couldn’t quite catch Bob Nudd.

Bread the was the winning key

Match organiser Wayne Swinscoe expects the river to fish even better for the second round this weekend if the colour fines off slightly and the mild weather continues. For more information, or to book on one of the forthcoming matches, Contact Wayne on 07737 056767.

Results:
1 Joe Oakes (Wigston AS) 30lb 2oz
2 Bob Nudd (Browning) 28lb 4oz
3 Steve Winters (Maver Bait Tech) 27lb 7oz
4 Sam Merry (Bait Tech) 26lb 11oz
5 Rob Wooton (Shimano/ Dynamite) 25lb 6oz
6 Alistair Ogilvie (Maver Bait Tech) 24lb 11oz

Winning pair on the day was Joe Oakes and Pete Jayes, with a combined weight of 44lb 12oz

If you have any match news to share with us please email in your reports to russ@tacklefanatics.co.uk along with any photos of the day!

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Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.

Gareth Evans has raised a few eyebrows in the specimen fishing world, after banking a monster 4lb 10oz perch from a Sussex Stillwater. He explained: “This capture marks the end of a twelve month campaign for me, with all the pieces of the jigsaw finally coming together! They say that good things come in twos, and a couple of days before the catch, I received an email from the BRFC to inform me that the silver bream record from May has been officially ratified. What a week!

I’d previously been approaching the water with a very softly softly approach trying to avoid the stacks of small carp that it contains. The last few trips have seen me fishing it differently, feeding heavily and wading through the carp to get to the very low stock of perch. Why did I not think of that 14 months ago?

The bite came at approximately 3.30pm, a classic slow steady lift on an ultra light bobbin. She put up a very weighty, powerful fight deep in the water, throwing up a couple of huge carp style boils before popping up to the surface and subsequently going in the net after one final deep lunge. Happy days!

I caught the monster on a hair rigged prawn fished over loosefed prawn – I also sprayed red maggots in order to keep some bait falling through the water.

Tackle was an 11ft Korum Precision rod, to a Drennan Series 7 feeder reel, 5.6lb mainlines complete with a half-ounce running lead to a size 11 swivel. Hook choice was a size 8 Kamasan B983 hook, to a 4.6lb Series 7 hooklength. The fish really did prove the perfect end to 2012!”

What a Cracker!

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Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.

A short evening session on the River Thames resulted in a cracking personal best 16lb 11oz barbel for Ian Brooker.

With the Thames fining down and holding plenty of colour the Oxfordshire-based Drennan International employee felt there was a strong chance of getting a take from one of the venue’s elusive and hard fighting specimens.

Arriving at a local stretch after dusk he cast out two large glugged pellet hookbaits in conjunction with a PVA bag of pellets and hemp just a couple of rod lengths from the bank. To hold bottom in the strong flow Ian had to use a 5oz lead and fished with a large bow in the line to present his terminal tackle with any plans of success.

“Because of the pace and the amount of rubbish coming down the river I was only able to keep my rig in position for about 40 minutes before it began to move,” said the  28-year-old angler.

“It wasn’t that long in to the session when it started to slowly bounce round again and I was about to reel in to recast when I received quite a subtle bite. I struck into it and knew immediately that I was into a good barbel. I thought it was probably a low double but because it was dark and the water was so coloured I didn’t actually see the fish until I lifted it out of the water – I then realised my initial estimation was a little on the low side.

“The stretch only holds a handful of big barbel but it does get very busy so I’ve only managed about six sessions on there. Before this I’d managed barbel to 12lb from it along with a few chub and bream so I was delighted to break my old pb with this 16lb 11oz specimen.”

Ian, presented his hookbait on a size 8 ESP T6 hook and a 4ft 10lb fluorocarbon hooklink and said he has now turned his attentions to specimen perch for the rest of the winter.

“So far I’ve managed perch of over 3lb from a local commercial Stillwater and another from a southern river,” he added.

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Ian Brooker 16lbs 11oz barbel

Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.