I went back to Sephton Farm the following week, this time to fish the big lake. I got there around 3pm, just in time to see the the fella in the next swim land a decent Mirror of around 5lb. As I was setting up, he pulled in another, this time a lovely Ghostie that looked around 7 or 8 pound.
I opted to fish the waggler using corn, and didn't do too badly, although all I could catch were skimmers. I'd set my heart on landing a carp, as I hadn't caught one in over a year. So I switched to luncheon meat, but still only skimmers were biting. I did have a decent roach/bream hybrid that put up a good fight on the light tackle I was using, and also a couple of decent sized bream, a couple of pound each I'd say.
As the evening wore on, I knew I wasn't going to use any more corn, so I chucked half a tin into the swim I'd been fishing in for most of the day. Then I fished over it, and began getting some strong takes. I lost one fish, which felt pretty big but not like a carp or a bream. I suspected it was a Tench, and that was backed up around ten minutes later when I struck into a big solid lump that took me about ten minutes to land. I don't know what it weighed, but it was easily a PB tench for me.
Bites eventually dropped off in the swim I had been fishing (about six or seven yards out to my right just past some reeds), so I switched to the left hand margins, where I'd chucked in a few cubes of meat. Almost immediately I had a ferocious take, and a big fish took off twenty yards to my left into the swim next to me. I was only on 6lb line, and it was difficult to control the fish as it sped off around the lake.
Eventually I got it back into my swim, and a fifteen minute battle ensued. It simply didn't want to come in, and I didn't have the strength of tackle to bully it in. Eventually it made a break for the reed bed immediately to my left. I just about kept it out, and it surfaced, ready for the net. I got the net under it, and saw it was a common that I estimate would be about 12lb, possibly more.
Just when I thought I had it, it made one last kick and escaped the net and made the safety of the reed beds. My line tangled, I couldn't free it and just like that my line snapped and the fish, what would almost certainly have been the biggest I've caught, was gone. Gutted.
I'll definitely be coming back here though, it was a very good day's fishing and I really enjoyed it. If you haven't fished Sephton Farm, give it a try.
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