Hunts Corner Success - Craig Runham

Recently with my time on the Wasing Syndicate Lake coming to end and time at a premium I was at a lost end as to where to go. One place that I had never fished was Hunts Corner at Linear Fisheries. It’s a beautiful looking lake that each swim has its own water in front of. There are loads of features littering the bottom and many snags all around the perimeter. It’s a proper little slice of day ticket heaven. With only ten swims it feels a bit like a syndicate lake.

On arrival to Linear Fisheries a quick catch up with one of the bailiffs confirmed my decision was the right one, many of the other lakes the fish was in the full swing of spawning. A quick lap of hunts with a bucket had me realise just how popular this lake was, every swim was taken and it wasn’t to be till lunch before a swim I fancied was to become vacant. I had chosen a swim that as soon as I walked into a fish showed in a small bay. From the swim I had everything to offer, snags, bays, deep margins and loads of raised gravel areas. A quick chat with the angler who was currently in the swim had me happy with this choice he had landed one and lost two in him 24hr session. I dropped the bucket into the swim and continued my lap. The swim choice was a good one I was sure and I felt confident of a bite or two during my eighteen hours session.

Soon it was two pm and I was finally set up in the swim. The conditions was rubbish, to say the least, I was getting badly sunburnt and temperatures in the mid-twenties. With a high pressure hanging over southern England I knew I was in for a hard trip. I guessed the fish wouldn’t be doing much feeding in the heat and that bite time was likely to be during the night or early morning due to the baking sunshine. I popped the brolly up in the shade of some trees and took refuge in the cooling shade. After a few casts around with the lead I found plenty of features in open water and felt this was the place of my attack. I had guessed the open water gets left alone a lot more than the snags and far side margins. I found a lovely depression next to a raised gravel area in around six feet. The area in front of the raised hump was silky smooth and felt very well fed on to say the least. Five foot back from the seam was a wall of thick weed, this spot just felt right.

I proceeded to get everything clipped up rods wise and had decided to fish two rods tight together on the spot I had just located. Rig wise I opted to fish my trusty blowback rig that I have used for years. A size six wide gape x with a small blowback ring and a extended kicker was attached to around six inches of black n trap semi stiff hooklink. A two and a half ounce lead was fished helli safe style. I really wanted to be dropping the lead during the fight as the weed near the spot felt brutal.

Bait wise I was fishing one rod on a Hinders Tutti Dumbbell Wafter and the other on a plastic Korda fake food dumbbell. Each cast I was attaching a small stick of hinders nut 365 and summer bag mix. Over both rods I started with around six spombs of a mixture of Hinders Little Gemz, Elips Pellets, corn and 10mm Tuttis. I also added some extra chilli hemp oil to spice up the mix and give of a nice flat spot should anything be feeding on the spot. With the two rods out on the spot 3ft or so apart. I decided to use the third rod as a bit of a rover should I see fish feeding or showing elsewhere. I started with the rod fished up on a margin slope in around five foot of water this rod was fished with a my usual hinge soft rig. I opted to fish a Hinders Fruit Salad 12mm Pop Up on this rod and fish it over some of the Nut 365 Boilies of a mixture of sizes.

It wasn’t long before the temperature began to drop in the evening and with the temperature drop the fish began to become more active. Before dark I was seeing signs of feeding over the baited spots and knew it was simply a matter of time before I was to get some action. I fell asleep a sunburnt mess and was eventually dragged for the bag around 2am as one of the rods on the spot had alerted me to a bite. First thing I noticed as I stood at the front of the swim was just how cold the air felt, the sky was simply breathtaking as I looked up at the tip of my rod arched over in the moonlight. Straight away I could hear the fish rolling out in the surface layers and was glad it was up in the water over that weed bed. As the fish neared the margin the hook pulled, I couldn’t believe my miss fortune. I had done all the hard work for it just to fall off in the edge. I redid the rod attaching another stick to the newly baited rig. First cast and it was perfectly back on the spot. I put a further 3 more spombs out on the spot also. Back into the sleeping bag I went and it wasn’t till around 4am that the same rod was away yet again. This time the hookhold was good and I was soon peering into the mesh at a wide looking mirror of around thirty pounds as a guess. I popped the fish into the recovery sling whilst I got the rod back out on the spot.  

First light was only moments away as I stood at the front of the swim putting a further two spombs out onto the spot. I began to get the camera gear out ready and was just searching for the tripod when the other rod on the same spot was away. A pretty scaley mirror was soon in my net this one looking to be just a shade over twenty pounds. I secured the net at the front of the swim and once again got the rod out onto the pot with more spombs over the top. I began to set up the tripod for the camera when a large fish crashed out to the left of the swim close in. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth I grabbed the rod that had remained quiet on the marginal shelf and attached a new pop up before flicking the rod out to the frothy bubbles from the re-enter of the large fish. The lead landed with a thump on the deck and I’m guessing on a gravel deck. I instantly flicked a single spomb over the top of the rings. As I began to tidy up the mess that was my swim and sort the fish out. The rod I had cast to the showing fish was away. The bobbin wedged into the alarm and the tip bending around at an alarming rate. Instantly I knew I was connected to a decent fish. After what seemed like one of the longest fights from a carp I have ever had a low to mid thirty led beaten in the bottom of the net along with the twenty-pound mirror from a few moments before. I decided not to redo the rod as I had to sort out the three fish I had already waiting for pics. It was all super manic and all happened so close together.

I needed help so woke up the angler Darren who was next door. Darren was a great bloke and soon helped me sort the fish out and get some great shots in the early morning half light. With the rods all back out and the fish returned it was time for a strong coffee. Before I had the chance to even make it a mid double had hung itself over the baited area. I decided to just admire its beauty before letting it slip back without a photo. A further 3 bites followed over the next hour or so as they fed without a care in the world over the spot. With another couple of twenties and an upper double I was really enjoying my session. It had been a long time since I had a session that kicked of quite like this one had.

By 11am I had managed 9 bites all since 2am. With the rods on the deck around 11am and everything packed away bar the net and rods. I was away again with the spool spinning on the floor. I was convinced that the fish I had just hooked was a big fish and after an epic battle involving the fish burying itself within the weed bed by the spot. An obviously extremely angry mid twenty male was to be my final action before I headed home. I had a really enjoyable session on Hunts Corner and will be back again in the near future.