Spenny, his super session and the 4 X 40s that followed

Spenny, his super session and the 4 X 40s that followed…….
It’s been a few weeks since my last visit and having banked a 47lb Mirror from peg 1 on that trip so I was itching to get back on the lake. I booked some time off and got down there Thursday morning.
Having kept an eye on the catch reports I knew fish had been caught around the islands a few days before I arrived. I only had two nights and really wanted to get on the fish so was up at 5am and on the M62 from Manchester keen as mustard. After a good walk around to find quite a few swims taken I fancied peg 8 or 9 but it turned out the chap in 8 was actually staying another night making the decision to fish swim 9 an easy one.
Once set up, I decided to fish 2 rods in the channel between the islands to keep disturbance and the number of lines in the area down to a minimum. Rods out and brew made I sat back and must have nodded off briefly, until I was woken by a buzzer and screaming reel. After a pretty good scrap I realized I had landed a special fish, so put it in a retainer sling before gathering some help for photo’s. As I was putting the fish in the retainer, the other rod ripped away and another good scrap ensued, followed by another very good fish in the net!
Tom arrived to assist with the photos and weighing, the first fish went 42lb 10oz and the second 42lb 4oz. A brace of 40’s in under 2 hours fishing! I was completely blown away and absolutely buzzing!
Massive thanks to Tom who got some great pics of the brace for me, despite having to get in the lake in his pants! Just as the mood settled down and I got both rods back out I was in again. This fish had taken line and managed to find some lily pads in the middle of the channel so I took to the boat and gently eased myself towards the fish. Once over the fish I was able to free the line from the pads, but the fish was angry and pulled me around the channel for 15 minutes in every direction possible, I was merely a passenger being taken for a ride. I could see a big mirror below the surface, but just had to wait for the fish to tire, eventually it did and I was able to slip the net under another very good fish.
Once on the bank, Tom confirmed the fish was The Big Leather and on the scales it went 43lb 10oz. One of the A Team and a truly stunning fish!! At this point I had to pinch myself, a hatrick of 40s in an afternoon – I couldn’t believe what was happening!!
There wasn’t any action during the nights whatsoever, so at around 10am I decided to refresh each rod with new baits and rigs. I hadn’t seen any fish in the swim at all but knew there must still be fish in the area, sure enough I had another take on the right hand rod at around 11.30am and I was soon slipping the net under another good fish, albeit not quite as large as some of the previous ones. Another mirror weighing 29.10 was added to the tally and the same rod was off again a couple of hours later. I couldn’t believe my luck as it became clear I was playing another really good fish. After a long slow fight I finally landed another large mirror carp. It looked like another 40lber and I was over the moon to see it go 41lb 4oz, another near leather, with just a couple of small scales.
At this point I was literally lost for words – I had landed FOUR 40s in just over 24 hours!
It wasn’t quite over yet though and I added another lovely 33lb 10oz mirror to the scorecard just beforedark, and also managed to another fish around 30lb in the last 30 mins whilst packing up taking the tally to :
4 x 40s, 2 x 30s and 1 x 29lber in 48 hours.
All fish were fully treated for any marks prior to release
A real Red Letter session that I’ll remember for a very very long time! Thanks to all involved with Erics Willows Lake on providing a great fishery and especially Tom & Hassan for helping out and sharing the moment!
A selection of photos from various devices as battery was in short supply