He told us “Generally, I target the same areas, but on a recent trip, I wanted to try something different. I felt there might be specimens inhabiting parts of the lake that myself and other anglers rarely fish. You know what it’s like on waters like these – sometimes a fish gets caught and ‘disappears’ for a few years. Perhaps there could be something special lurking in those neglected areas, so on this trip, I headed for a shallow bay in a corner of the lake where I’d never seen another crucian angler.

It’s the kind of place you’d expect to find them, with snags and cover. The swim was certainly trickier to fish than the more popular swims where generally, you can underarm a feeder to a near bank feature. Here, I targeted some sunken roots on the far bank, around 30 yards away, which made getting the rig into position a little trickier. To begin, I had a few casts with a bare Method feeder, with no hooklink attached, and dragged them around a little, to check the bottom was clear.

It was, so I clipped-up before walking over and introducing a bit of bait, with my choice being 2mm pellets and corn. Over the top, I cast cut-down boilie hookbaits on my method feeder rigs. At dusk, I was buoyed with confidence as I saw a few large crucians roll directly over my baited spot. I decided not to recast that night, knowing that my baits were exactly where I wanted them. Throughout the night, I walked around and trickled in a bit of bait every hour or so, which was a slight pain as I didn’t get much sleep. But I hoped the effort would be worth it.

At dawn my plan came good, as I hooked a fish that made a strong push for the sunken roots. I managed to turn it, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was a ‘proper one’. Thick across the back and with a plump belly, I wasn’t at all surprised when it pulled the needle of my scales to 4lb 1oz – a satisfying start to my crucian campaign. Over the next hour or so, I landed three others all well over 3lb, which justified my swim selection. On lakes up and down the country there are areas that are neglected for one reason or another. Next time you’re out, why not try one of them? It could just result in something a little bit special.”

Well done Gary!