This winter has been particularly cold in the UK, with many lakes freezing over regularly it has been difficult for those targeting stillwater specimens to find somewhere to get their rods out.
While many of us would just wait it out and let the lakes close to our home defrost, others are so dedicated they find somewhere else to fish, regardless of how far away that may be. John Johnson is one such angler who traveled 4 and a half hours away from his home to get his fishing fix and a spectacular roach made it all worth the extra effort.
“With the lake I intended to fish still frozen, I made a last-minute change of plans and headed further south in pursuit of a specimen roach," he told us.
“I arrived first thing on Friday morning and, after finding a few spots, slowly baited the swim by recasting my maggot feeders every half-hour or so."
"Rather than a using a heli-rig that many anglers opt for, I use an inline feeder with a 3ins hooklink. I believe it gives better hooking properties and you land more fish because of it," John explained.
“It wasn’t until around 4am on the Sunday morning that I had my first bite, which was from a bream of 11lb."
“The next morning, I was starting to think it wasn’t going to happen, but I had another bite, this time from my target species, and a nice one at that, in the shape of this pristine 2lb 14oz redfin."
“As it lay in the net, I knew the nine-hour round trip had been worthwhile!”
IF YOU WANT TO CATCH BIG FISH, THESE ARE THE BEST SPECIMEN RODS YOU CAN USE.
