As it's been quiet for me for the last few weeks and little has found it's way onto my lines. I thought I would put one of my articles on here from Carp World magazine June/July 2014. It features my time spent on the Crayfish Pool in Horton and the events which unfolded over my two years spent on there. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.....tight lines 

Keith 

A long way from home!

By Keith Supple

            The Crayfish Pool on the famous Horton complex is nestled in amongst some of the finest carp fishing waters in the United Kingdom. A small water of just over 3 acres, its banks are surrounded by overhanging trees, a variety of snags, reeds and a host of beautiful wildlife. It's amazing to think that it's just half a mile from Heathrow Airport! This of course makes it rather interesting for those interested in plane watching as the jets fly extremely low overhead. The venue is reasonably featureless under the water and just a few odd spots of gravel can be found dotted around. The bottom is otherwise flat and drops away from around 5 feet near the car park bank to around 13+ feet on the opposite bank.

Where it all started!

It's a very intriguing water with the only real obstacle being the dreaded crayfish that are hugely abundant within the lakes rich water. These rig and bait destroyers crucify just about anything you throw into the water with minutes. This tends to put the majority of anglers off the place and has kept the venue fairly quiet for some years. This suits me fine as I prefer to have the banks to myself! On most occasions I'm the only person on there and this gives me plenty of scope for baiting up and of course moving onto fish. The stock is quite low with around 25-30 fish present. Most of these are 25lb or more in weight and there's a great chance of a thirty pounder.

Living in the valleys of South Wales gives me little opportunity for catching the size of fish I'm interested in, so after much deliberating I chose to make the jump and buy a ticket for the Cray in May 2010. The 360 mile round trip down the M4 to the venue and back made things rather expensive and often motivation was going to be my worst enemy, but I made the decision and I had to stick to it if I wanted to bag my goals! After reading a few articles on the place and scouring the internet for as much info as I could get, I finally made the trip down in late May.

I pulled up at the gates of the venue and I was shocked at just how low and loud the planes were! After locking the gates behind me, I pulled up in the car park and headed off around the venue for the first time to get an idea of what I was up against. After about 3 hours I was really questioning my sanity and I have to say that I really wasn't feeling the love for the place. Feeling a little disgruntled I started unloading the car and headed around to the far bank to a nice grassy section that would give me good visibility of the lake. I had little else to go on as I was unable to spot any fish activity on the whole venue. I slowly set up in what I found out later was called 'The Stump Swim'.

A few chucks around with a lead and marker and I was able to ascertain that there was very little in the way of features apart from the odd hard patch here and there. I opted to place two baits around 10 meters apart in a soft area about 60 yards out. This was then baited with a fairly wide spread of boilies I'd made myself just the day before. I then set up camp and awaited results. The day went slowly past and drifted into night. The planes ground to a halt around mid-night and at last peace was to be had. The fish in the Cray come to life at night and they can be located fairly easily by just listening to where they are crashing around. I sat up most of that first night on there listening to them splashing around in the corner just to my right. This meant only one thing for first light the next day and around 6am I was moving my kit into the new swim.

Green Bank.......and the 'sweet spot'

'Greenbank' as it's known is the last swim on the complex and tucked right away in the top North West corner of the venue. It has a huge snag jutting out from the right hand side of the swim and this is a heavily fished spot. A quick plumb around and I was to find around 13 feet of water at 30 yards and a few heavily polished gravel sections around the snag. I opted to place a bait on one of the gravel areas and the other to my right hand side down the marginal shelf. This was a huge mistake and within just a few hours I'd made numerous casts only to get crucified by the Crays that were so abundant in this area of the lake. I had to decide on a new plan of attack for this place and quick! I mustered up a stiff fluorocarbon hook length of around 6 inches and a very basic knotless knot set up and short hair. I had certainly learned one hard lesson on this first trip and that was to avoid the margins in Greenbank at all costs!

The rod out to the snag seemed to be getting less nuisance activity on it. I decided that a cast into open water to the left of the snag was probably my best chance of keeping a bait in the water for long enough to induce a take. Both spots were liberally baited with boilies again and I set up my brolly, bed and essentials for the night ahead. Monday and Tuesday passed by quick as lightning and by Tuesday night I was really starting to get the feeling I'd bitten off more than I could chew with this place. The crays were eating everything! Tungsten putty, rig tubing, silicone....they even started peeling away bits of the coating on my leads! I sat back to read a Chris Ryan book and watched the light give way to yet another night of endless bleeps from both alarms.

I eventually dropped off around 4am and my next recollection was waking from a deep sleep to the sound of a screaming clutch and a Delkim in an overload state! I quickly wiped the dribble from my cheek and threw the book off my face and sort of fell out of the sleeping bag into my shoes. The next thing I know, I'm attached to a steam train that's going a very different way to me. Overnight the wind had got up and the lake was covered in willow blossom. This caused absolute havoc with my braided mainline and it was getting caught in the spool, bail arm and rod rings. The fish had other ideas about meeting its captor and ran me ragged around the swim for a good ten minutes.

Totland....my first from the Cray!

After a few close calls with the willow blossom tangles and a severe case of the jitters, I eventually sank the net under my first fish of the season. I let out a huge sigh of relief and took a look down into the folds of my net to see what exactly I had attached to my hook? I was quite shocked at first, the roundest fish I'd ever seen sat there looking back at me grumpily! I left the fish sat in the net for a few minutes while I set up the weighing tripod, scales and camera equipment. I checked the remote camera settings and insured I'd got everything in position so as not to keep the fish out of water for longer than needed. I unhooked the fish in the water and then lifted the mesh. I knew then that I had one of the better fish in the bag! On the scales she went 32lb 7oz and after a few quick snaps I put her back to fight another day.

Absolutely elated I reeled in the other rod and ventured around to the point swim to look at the board and see which fish it was that I'd just caught. After a few minutes I worked out that it was a fish called 'Totland'. Not one of the originals but a stock fish that had put on huge gains in a short period of time. After looking at the board for a few minutes, I decided to go and have a chat with a guy who was fishing on the point swim just in front of the board. It turned out that he was the Head Bailiff on Kingsmead Island Lake, which is sat just behind the Cray. He was doing a few nights on the Cray as the fish in K2 were spawning in the warm weather. We chatted for a few hours and got on really well. I was invited that evening to a barbecue which was taking place on the bank of K2 just behind us. I met up with a host of brilliant guys and was made to feel very welcome. We drunk beer and ate copious amounts of red meat before retiring to our beds for the night. I went to bed that night feeling elated  with my decision to fish the Cray. All too quickly I was on my way home though and excited about my next opportunity to venture down to the Colne Valley.

No2....the awesome Bulla!!!!!

It was a fortnight before my next opportunity came to fish and four nights passed without so much as a whiff of a bite. I left feeling very deflated and wondered if I'd just got 'lucky' on my first session? Within 3 days I was making the exhausting trip back down with renewed enthusiasm and new ideas for my line of attack. All this went out the window four days later when I yet again found myself heading home empty handed. I was however getting a feeling for a few different swims on the lake and getting to know a few of the regulars on there too. A little over a week went by and all I could think about was my next session! I just couldn't get the place out of my head. Sunday morning came round and I belted off down the M4 like a scalded cat to get to the lake. I arrived about 10am to find just one other guy on. He was in a swim called the high bank and informed me he'd had a fish called ' Nikki' at just over 32lb. We exchanged pleasantries and I went off for a mosey around looking for any likely suspects.

I spotted a couple of large dark figures mooching around the snag in 'Hutchies' and after about 2 hours I decided this was going to be my target swim for this weeks session. I unloaded the gear and went about placing a bait down the inside left margin to a likely looking spot the fish had been around minutes prior. They were out of the swim when I cast and I placed just a few chopped baits around the localised area before placing the second rod out to a clear hard patch I had found at about 25 yards. I sat back in the intense summer sun and burned quickly. All this did nothing for my results and after 4 days of torture I yet again left empty handed. I was starting to feel really frustrated and wondered just what it was that I was doing wrong?

I had to wait about 7 weeks before my next session as I had too much on with other commitments and when I finally arrived back at the venue it was now well into late August. The wind was pushing across the lake from the South and I saw a couple of fish crash out in the middle of the lake in front of the 'Stump swim'. I had a walk around and sat there for about 2 hours. I saw a few more fish crash out in the same area a few times in that period and that was enough for me to get my gear and target the area. I decided that I'd try my same attack as I had on my first session in the 'Stump' and placed both rods fairly close to each other on the silty patch and fired some baits out around the diving gulls.

The beautiful 'Beach Swim'

The first 2 nights passed by with little activity and the wind switched to the East, which really changed the feel of the lake. Two other guys pitched up opposite on the 'Point swim' and the 'Beach' on the Wednesday afternoon and we all had a very quiet Wednesday nights fishing. I awoke Thursday morning to the usual drone of a 747 flying over my head and set about making a cuppa and some breakfast before making the hideous 180 mile journey home empty handed again.... I'd just poured my coffee into the mug, when my right hand rod let out a blistering one toner. I almost fell over on the damp, dew encrusted bank side as I scrambled down to my rods. I struck into a fish which felt heavy and powerful. She held out at range and just sat there nodding her head. I sat nervously caressing the rod and keeping a taught line between me and her. The two guys opposite were keen to see what I had on the end and came over to watch. After about 10 minutes of torment and arguing with the fish over who was stronger, I eventually started to make head way with her and eventually sunk the net under another one of the Cray's sacred gems!

The lads helped me to get sorted for the weigh in and photos and eventually I hoisted her clear of the water to an awaiting fan club, which had now grown to four! On the scales she went 31lb 10oz and one of the lads told me she was called 'Bulla'. A stunning chestnut coloured, deep mirror with real attitude. Photos were taken, hands shook and she was placed gently back into her watery hole. At last I had another Crayfish Pool capture to my name! It'd taken a lot of work and even more motivation to get me to where I now stood. My only question was, could I do it again?

Stunning......baby long my no 3

My next session was to be a rather cold and wet one. I set up on a shallow plateau swim named 'The Beach', which is sat to the right hand side of the 'Point' swim. Its a tight little swim with a nice deck board that protrudes out over the shallow water. It abounds a good section of open water with a drop off into around 10 feet of water and a nice weed bed at about 25 yards out. Past this there's a nice hard gravel section which runs almost parallel to the bank at 50 yards. I spent a few hours watching the lake on arrival and it was obvious that there were a few fish milling around both the weed bed and the gravel section. I decided I'd try an alternative approach to my all boilie approach of the last couple of months and went for a very oily, garlic infused mush of particles. This was spoded onto my two marks. I opted to cover an area of around 2 meters in each swim with about 10kg of bait in total....I then placed my hook baits this side of the baited area so that there were no lines through the baited patches. I pinned the whole lot down and let off plenty of slack line before attaching the bobbins.

Winning rigs.....

Both rods had short hook lengths of coated braid on them with just the last 2 inches peeled off with a KD rig and 2 pieces of neutrally balance yellow plastic corn. The corn should stand out well I thought against the rest of the spod mix as I had used a mix with maize in rather than using sweetcorn.  Within a few hours there was obvious feeding activity on the right hand rod to the weed bed. Plenty of bubbles could be seen and an odd fish shouldered over the area. I was so sure it was going to go off that I'd of bet my house on it! Needless to say I sat there a long time again...By Wednesday, 3 days into my session, I'd pretty much given up hope of any action again. What on earth had I got to do to get a regular run of bites on this place? Just as I was about to hang myself from the nearest tree, my left hand rod gave off a handful of intermittent bleeps before taking a steady surge of line from the reel. I jumped up with renewed faith but it was short lived as I struck into fresh air. I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. So much effort so far for very little reward. I tried to not throw my toys out of the pram, but my patience was wearing very thin and I was running out of ideas. I recast the rod to the same spot in the hope that maybe it was just a vicious liner or a fish trailing line. Maybe I'd get a second chance?

Scaley...no 4 up!

About an hour past and I was sat talking to a mate on the phone whilst drinking my umpteenth cup of morning coffee. It had been chucking it down for the last hour but had now stopped and the wind had dropped too..... The place was looking rather carpy all of a sudden. There was a warmness to the air and a gentle mist was emanating from the surface tension, which was only being broken by the silly quantity of water boatman that were buzzing around. I watched intently as things started to feel like they were going to happen. Then, as if by my own hand, the rod to the weed bed twitched and gently pulled down. It sprung back and the bobbin jumped quickly. I waited and watched the tip of the rod. The same thing happened again, then off it roared! It was almost as if the fish had hooked itself but just sat shaking, trying to eject the rig. I sprung into action and this time set the hook into a fish. I remembered now why I had continued to fish the place even though I'd been feeling so beaten up. The feeling of hooking one of these rare creatures was magic in itself. This one fought strangely different to the other two in that she spent the whole time on the surface, plodding around in a very methodical manner. A few minutes of this odd behaviour and she found the back of the net first time.

Autumn arrived quickly!

I let out a huge sigh of relief before realising that I had now got number 3 in the net. 19 nights in for 3 fish wasn't sounding quit so bad a ratio now. I weighed and photographed one of the prettiest fish I'd seen in a long time. Not the biggest but her beauty made up for this. At 21lb 6oz 'Baby Long' as she's known as had made me a happy man again. The rain had subsided and even the sun was bursting through for my photographs with this beauty. After returning the fish I sat back with a warm drink and recast back onto my spots. My final night passed without any action and yet again I was heading for the Severn Bridge and the hills of home in Wales.

My last session successful session of the year was in mid-September, some 3 weeks after the capture of 'Baby Long'. I set up for a session on the 'Point swim' and targeted the snag which can be fished from either there or from 'Greenbank' on the far side of the lake. I decided to stay with the plastic corn option and a little bit of spod mix at range to the snag. I didn't have to wait long to get my first bit of action and only fifteen hours into the session I was playing my forth fish of the season. This fish came in with the minimal of effort and it was obvious it was one of the smaller residents. At 14lb 3oz 'Scaley' was never going to break any records, but like 'Baby long' she made up for her lack of weight with drop dead gorgeous scales all down her flanks and a beautiful dark woody colouration!

I had no other action on that 4 night session and that was my last fish of the 2010 season. I did another 20 nights over the early winter period before calling it a day in late November. In just 5 months I'd racked up 3500 miles and spent a fortune on fuel for just 4 carp.....I felt maybe it was all a bit too much to endure and opted to stay away from the place in 2011. I chose instead to chase fish at another syndicate closer to home, but I just didn't gel with the place or its very clique membership! By early 2012 I was just gagging to get back to Crayfish Pool. I missed the lake, its residents, the members and the way it made me feel! Even if it beat me to death almost the year before. I phoned the Cemex office and was lucky to get a ticket offer over the phone as the membership was down to dwindling numbers. Within hours the car was loaded and my first trip there in 12 months was starting. I pulled into the car park to find 6 members on.....I didn't even know there were 6 members let alone all being on at the same time!

Ashlea, my first of my second season on Cray.

I had a chat to everyone I knew and opted to fish the corner swim 'Reeds' as it's a renowned spot for some of the original commons to come from. I really had my heart set on one fish though....His name was 'Lumpy'. The weather was decidedly cold for even for 1st April and the wind had us all wrapped up in coats and thermals. The only person to manage a fish that week was Head Bailiff Ian Vallintine from 'Greenbank'. He caught a stunning 31lb 12oz mirror known as 'Shirley'. I was really chuffed though as the guy had caught it using a couple of kilos of bait I'd made for him. I headed home from the weeks stay and decided I'd wait a few weeks before returning so as to let the weather warm up a little.

I actually ended up not fishing until mid-June due to other commitments . I set up on the 'Point' for my next session and pumped out about 15kilos of spod mix to the far snag swim. I sat back on my chair in the bright sunshine and fell asleep as I'd been up early that morning. I'd been asleep less than 10 minutes before I was woken from my slumber by the quickest run I've ever had. I looked almost in disbelief at the rod....I'd been fishing twenty minutes and I was into a fish already? An awesome battle ensued with what looked to be another of the lakes larger chunks. She was adamant on taking me for a ride up the back bay to my left and then off to the right towards the 'Beach' swim. After a torrid few minutes of being dragged all over the lake I eventually sunk the mesh under a magnificent beast of a fish. The guy stood behind me recognised the fish straight away as 'Ashley'. At 29lb 8oz and another stunning scaly wooden coloured beauty, I was over the moon. I lost another fish that session to a hook pull but at last I felt that I was starting to get to grips with the lake.

Bloody awesome! A new PB in the form of East Cowes at 36lb 4oz

The end of June came around and I headed back down to fish. I spent a few hours watching the lake as I always do and it became apparent that the majority of activity was occurring in the far snag in front of 'Greenbank'. This had to be the place to concentrate my efforts as most of the guys were trying all the other swims and struggling to locate the fish. I jumped into the swim and quickly tackled up. I'd spent a lot of time thinking about my approach for this season and I decided to stop fishing to the same old obvious spots. I put both my rods out towards open water about 10 feet off the snag. This open water had no reason for anyone to cast to it. It looked unobvious, felt devoid of any underwater differences and apart from it being just a few inches deeper than where the snag lay.

Change of rig, approach, bait and tactics this time. I chose a running lead rig with a 4oz inline flat dung lead. I took the centre tubing and bead out of the lead and used a size 8 ring swivel and a buffer bead. This made it really free running. A 10 inch rig of stiff hook length material, 2 inches stripped and a rubber corn tipped off a rubber tigernut hook bait to a size 6 long shank and blow back set up. To this I chose to pull a solid bag of broken boilies, chopped tigers and a few pellets down the rig and onto the hook. This meant it was fishing like a stick mix but in a ball as opposed to a stick format. I double bagged the PVA to insure it got right down to the deck and didn't fall apart on the decent. This insured that the hook length was totally covered by my baiting strategy and of course it kept the rig straight and tangle free. I started to use a new bait that I had created specifically for the lake and started putting a fair bit in. The Sea Monster boilie as it was later to become, is a very dark, black boilie, based on a mixture of fish and squid meals. Flavoured with Octopus and a few other secret goodies!

Bulla on her second time on the bank for me at a new top weight and another PB of 38lb 2oz!

Happy with my approach and feeling at last confident with my new ideas, I sat back and awaited results. The night passed by quickly and despite lots of fish activity all around the snag, I awoke at 5am to just the sound of the early morning chorus. I had a cuppa and must have nodded back off to sleep as I was awoken rudely at 7.30 by a belting take on the right hand rod. The reel melted as line was stripped from the spool. The bobbin clattered against the rod butt and the tip was bent like a scythe! I leant into what I could only describe as a torpedo! The fish went out towards the middle of the lake and all I could do was just hang on. Line disappeared off the reel at an alarming rate. Eventually she stopped about two thirds of the way across the pool before doing a 90 degree turn and heading down to my left. Thank god I was the only one on the lake as she would have done just about everybody's rods in on the lake in just one run! I eventually subdued the fish and sunk the net under a huge framed chunk of mirror! With a UK PB that stood currently at 33lb 11oz, I felt this fish was in with a shout of beating that.....

I was shaking with excitement and it took a few minutes to gather my thoughts. I set up the camera and tripod, scales etc and then unhooked her in the net. This fish looked pretty big. I lifted her up and I knew then that I was looking at a new personal best carp. The scales don't lie and after checking a few times I settled for 36lb 4oz and after a bit of investigation decided it was a fish known as 'East Cowes'. I was elated! What a fantastic way to get the summer season started. Only my third trip of the year and I had 2 big chunks under my belt already. I put my new PB back in the pool and made a few calls to mates to let them know of the capture.

Two tone...it was all starting to come together at last!

I placed the rod back out to my new hot spot and claimed a well earned cup of coffee. Around 11am the same rod was again wailing and the bobbing almost shattering the butt of the rod blank with its ferocity. This fish was hell bent on getting into the snag. She went underneath it and just kept on going. All I could do was lock up the clutch drop the rod top as low under the water as possible and hang on. I stopped her somewhere at the back of the tree and she luckily stayed down low away from the protruding branches. After a few minutes of tussling for priority over the fight, she came down the right hand side of the swim and hatched a plan to do me in the nearside weed bed. I halted her with immense side strain and then I noticed a group of boulders to my right that she was now trying to shred the line against!

This fish knew every trick in the book and she was dam well trying them all out on me! After what seemed like an eternity I eventually subdued the nut case fish and netted yet another huge framed mirror. This one looked a little familiar though. I had reason to recognise her as it was my old mate 'Bulla'. Now I'm not a fan of repeat captures but on a venue of this size with just a few fish present then It's always a likely scenario to catch a few fish more than others. This time though she was looking massive! On the scales she went 38lb 2oz and I couldn't believe I'd broken my PB twice in a matter of just three hours! I took some stunning photos and put my new best friend back safely to grow onto forty pounds! I made the obvious essential calls to family and friends and sat back in disbelief. What a morning.....

Shanklin at 32lb 4oz

My next opportunity came knocking at around 2am the following morning and I was awoken by a greedy common of 16lb 1oz. My forth fish found a snag and broke me at around 5am that same morning. I put some more bait into the swim and recast a new rig back onto the spot. Around 10.30 the same right hand rod tore off and I played out a bottom hugging chunk, which gave up after a few minutes of scrapping. This fish was instantly recognisable as the Crays own 'Two Tone'. At 25lb 14oz and four fish for the session I was over the moon with my new found results!

A fortnight later and I was back in 'Greenbank' on my lucky hot spots. Monday morning came around and so did my first run of the session at 7.30am. Another blistering take and yet another train flew out across the pool. These fish have so much power it's indescribable.  Eventually I subdued her and another thirty plus fish lay looking back at me in the folds of my net. Another football of a fish, this one called 'Ventnor' and at 30lb 5oz another one of the big girls. I then had the misfortune of loosing 2 fish that night to the snag. I hate loosing fish full stop but at least I was now starting to get to grips with the place. I opted for a swim change on my next trip. I had just 48 hours to fish, so I chose to fish the 'Back bay' instead. The bay is an ultra snaggy section of the lake some 30 feet wide, 5 feet deep and riddled with crays. The swim seems to only produce fish during the hours of 10 pm and 2am. Bearing this in mind I thought I'd fish the nights in there and move to the 'Point swim' in the day to maximize my bite options.

I placed a pair of plastic tigers on my rigs and swung a 4 oz lead over to the far side snags. I locked my reels up and put the butts firmly into the rear rests. I slept right next to the rods so that I was on them as quick as was humanly possible. At around 1am the left rod bobbin rose a little then dropped back down gently. Not your usual cray pull....they tend to be quite twitchy nibbles. the bobbin stayed very slack and I got up to investigate. I shone my headlamp onto the tip of the rod and I could just make out my line dangling from the tip. The only thing was that it was pointing down to my left about 30 feet from where I'd cast it to? I tightened down and sat watching the tip of the rod in bemusement.

Ashlea again and the first time she'd done 30!

Suddenly it trembled gently and signalled something was hanging on to it. I struck and was met with a solid resistance. I was attached to an immovable object to my left. I pulled the tip in a few different angles and then wound down hard. Amazingly a fish then came out of the snag almost backwards with my rig attached to it! I quickly sunk the net under the stunned fish and before both of us knew what was going on I had another of the lakes big girls in the bag. Unfortunately a repeat capture of 'Ashley' but at a new top weight of 30lb 2oz.  The first time the fish has done the magic thirty pounds.

My next chance came the following night in the bay again and I lost a good fish to a sharp rock or underwater obstacle, which cut off my rig just above the lead.  The rest of the session proved fruitless and it would be another 4 weeks before I'd get my next opportunity to fish the Cray. I had a week away with some friends booked in for the last week in August, to Paul Selmans Etang De Breton in Northern France. The week was very enjoyable and I managed a handful of nice carp to low twenties and 11 catfish to 65lb 8oz.

A nice interval in France!

The whole time I was there though, all I could think about was The Cray and how much I wanted to catch one of its oldest residents, a fish known as 'Lumpy'. At over 60 years of age this original had been caught by some angling legends and was most likely the oldest fish on the entire Horton complex. This was the end goal for me and one of my real wants. I had to wait until early October before my next trip to the Cray. The weather had been stunning and in fact almost too hot to fish at times. The cooler conditions of October were now arriving with nice Southerly winds blowing across the venue into my favourite corner in 'Greenbank'. My first fish came at 8am Monday morning.

Another monster take stripped line from the reel. I leapt up out of bed and engulfed my shoes and coat in one go as it was raining quite hard outside. A great scrap ensued and the tip of my rods spent the whole time doubled over in pain! A new capture eventually hit the spreader block. This time it was 'Shanklin' at 32lb 4oz....my forth thirty plus fish of the season from the Cray. I recast the rod back onto my spot and baited up with a kilo or so of the Sea Monster boilies around a spread of about 4-5 meters. My next fish came at mid-night from the right hand rod again. This turned out to be a chunky stocky common called 'Miller' at 20lb 6oz.

I followed this up with another small common of 17lb 3oz later that morning. They seemed to be loving the bait I was giving them! But all I could think about was 'Lumpy'....I so wanted to catch that fish! The problem I now had was that my bait was working well, I'd located a great feeding spot. I was catching with great regularity and at times I was starting to get to know as well. The big decision I had was that 'Lumpy' only ever got caught from the 'Point' or from 'Hutchies'. Nobody had ever caught him from the side of the lake I was fishing. Do I moved and chance missing out on opportunities where I was or sit it out here catching plenty of fish?

Footballs are us! 'Ventnor'

Around mid-morning of the Wednesday I caught yet another old friend, 'Two Tone' at a new top weight of 27lb 10oz and I then decided I'd make it my last session on the Cray for the year due to many commitments that were up and coming. I couldn't make up my mind on whether to move swims and chance an encounter with 'Lumpy' in 'Hutchies' or stay where I was catching fish albeit repeat captures occasionally? I decided to stay where I was and chase 'Lumpy' some other time.

I lay there reading an article by Martin Locke about a fish he so wanted to catch and how he sat for hours willing the fish onto his line! I laughed at this and thought about how often I'd done this with old 'Lumpy'. I closed the book and lay there looking at the isotopes in my motionless bobbins. 'Come on Lumpy!' I said to myself... 'Come on old boy' ...'Lumpy, Lumpy, Lumpy!' I kept saying his name in my head over and over. I knew I was wasting my time as he never got caught elsewhere, especially in 'Greenbank'! I dropped off to sleep as the planes slowed down. 'Lumpy, Lumpy, Lumpy'!

I got a few bleeps on my left hand rod around 2.30am on my last ever night on the Cray.... I sat up to watch the rods for a few minutes and noticed a gentle tremble on the left rod tip....I watched intently for a bit by the light of my head lamp, then climbed back into bed. As I was just removing my shoes, off it rattled. A slow but stead run. I squeezed the rod back into a healthy curve and in all honesty I thought I had caught the lakes only resident Bream? This fish just came straight in towards me. What on earth had I got attached to my line? All of a sudden it hit me....It couldn't be? Surely not?

Lumpy at last!!!

I heard stories from other captures that 'Lumpy' being so old and quite ragged he really didn't fight at all and just chose to come straight in to his captors. I kept reeling and sunk the net under my 'Bream' ......I placed the rod on the platform and gingerly crept forward to peer into the landing net expecting to see a bream, small carp or even a small eel or something???? I switched on my headlamp and looked down....a dark grey figure lay there. It was no bream that was for sure. I got goose bumps as I was almost sure it was 'Lumpy' but he had never ever been seen in this swim? I lifted the mesh and placed the fish down on the unhooking mat.

My final fish from the Cray and I had caught just about all I wanted to from the place.....

I stared down at the broken rib that protruded from the fishes flank and its very slate grey colour and it then hit me like a freight train.....It was 'Lumpy'! I had caught my target fish! 60 years old.....we were at last friends and I sat looking at him laying there helplessly. I quickly weighed him and took a few photos before sending him home. His weight was quite well down from 31lbs to 27lb 2oz and he looked rather tired but he swam off happily and left me feeling rather sad. It was the end of my time on the Cray and I had caught the fish I most wanted to catch. I'd caught numerous personal bests, made some life long friends and watched the venue progress through its seasonal changes. It had become home to me and I'd miss the place with all my heart.

I left the lake feeling both sad but also elated to have caught that one fish I most wanted. Maybe I'll return there sometime, but I know it will never be the same as it was back then.....