Boxing Day Bonanza... Steve Swan

This entry was posted on 3rd January, 2014

Boxing Day Bonanza... Steve Swan

For me, Boxing Day is associated with being a fishing day, for as long as I can remember it’s been a day when me, my brother and dad have always fished and Boxing Day 2013 wasn’t going to be any different!

Me and my brother Dave had planned to head down to our local syndicated water; Layfield lakes in Lenwade, we’d also planned to meet fellow work colleague and good friend Scott (the slayer) Kingsley down there at around 7am.

After indulging in too much food and drink on Christmas day we were a little late getting up, in fact it wasn’t till around 7.30 that we woke, so the day didn’t start well, as we rushed to get the tackle sorted and car loaded.

We got down to the lake at around 8.10 and we could see that Scott was already down there, so we got the gear loaded up on the barrow in double quick time and had a quick walk around.

Before we went about choosing a swim we made a beeline for Scott to see if he had enjoyed any success, as it turned out he had only been down the lake a few minutes, as he also seemed to be feeling the effects of a Christmas hangover!

We ended up setting up a couple of swims up from the area were Scott was fishing so we could enjoy a bit of banter and a good social, after all it was Christmas! I quickly set about getting the rods set up, opting for three simple chod rigs, all fishing with small pink hook baits. Pink had been a colour I’d been very successful with in the previous weeks, so it didn’t make any sense to change, as they say why fix something that’s not broken! After only 10 -15 minutes we heard Scott calling ‘FISH ON’, so I asked Dave to look after the rods, while I went and gave him a hand landing the fish and taking a few pictures etc. Once I was in Scott’s swim I heard Dave shout up the bank ‘I’M IN AS WELL’! So I left Scott to it and headed back to Dave, as in all the commotion we hadn’t even got our landing net set up!



As I was walking back to swim I could see that it was infact my fishing rod he had in his hand and not his own! However seeing as it was the season of good will I decided that he could carry on playing the fish, while I set the net up. A few minutes later, while Dave was still playing the fish, one of his rods roared off too, and he obviously returned the favour… ‘YOU GRAB THAT ONE STEVE’!

I didn’t need asking twice, I picked up the rod and started to play the fish.

By this time Scott had landed his fish and put it in the retention sling he’d also ventured up the bank to see what all the commotion was about! Just as he arrived Dave slipped the net under a nice mirror around the 15-16lb, which Scott informed us, was around 3-4lb bigger than a Common he’d landed.

I was still playing my fish and had a funny feeling that it was definitely bigger than the two we’d landed just a matter of minutes ago! When we saw it hit the surface we could all see that it was a nice Common, in my head I thought that it maybe a mid to high twenty.



After a few more minutes of wallowing around in the cool winter water the big girl was mine, she slipped over the waiting net cord and into the fold of the landing net. With three fish on the bank I thought it was an ideal opportunity for a group photo, as moments like this don’t happen too often!

As Scott trundled off to recover his fish from his Sanctuary sling I lifted mine from the water, as I lifted it out I could feel it was quite a bit heavier than I’d anticipated and when I lifted it on the scales my thoughts were correct, as the needle on the Reubens swung round to a very pleasing 32lb! Making it the 3rd biggest common I had ever caught! After the photo’s had been taken the three fish were safely returned and the rods were positioned back on the spots.



Around thirty minutes later I heard another shout from Scott ‘I’M IN AGAIN STEVE’ as I wandered down to see him, amazingly before I even reached his swim, I heard another shout from my brother Dave, ‘I’M IN AGAIN TOO STEVE’!

I quickly netted Scott’s fish, another small one around the 14lb mark, I then headed back to act as gilly for Dave! Dave’s fish was fighting well and I had my suspicions that it may be another nice one… I wasn’t wrong as a cracking, long, original Common just over 20lb, slipped into the landing net.

Once again after a quick photo the fish was returned and rods repositioned.



Two hours passed without any further indications so I decided to reel in one of my rods in and change tactics to target some Pike.

I flicked a small dead bait a few feet from bank, on the edge of the marginal drop off in about 12ft of water. It could have only been out a matter of minutes before the first ‘Jack’ of the session was on the bank, a pretty fish around the 5lb mark. Another dropped run followed, before the Pike fishing was interrupted by a savage take on my Carp rods. After a short spirited fight the fish was plodding round under the rod tip and I thought I has everything under control, when all of all of a sudden the hook pulled and the fish was off!

As I cast the rod back to the same spot, hoping to make up for the lost fish, Dave’s rod ripped off and he started to play what he thought and felt like a bigger one. After a short while we were all standing there waiting to see the fish come up, this time I guessed it would be a smaller one and for the third time in the same day I was correct, as a cheeky like Pasty Mirror about 10lb broke surface and was safely netted.

The rest of the day was quite but we were all very happy with what had happened; seven carp takes, landing six of them and three pike takes landing two. Not too bad for a day session in the winter.

It was certainly a boxing day to remember!

The Tackle Box Delkim TXi Alarms Greys Prodigy Carp Rods Daiwa Entoh Reels X line 17lb CC Moore Northern Specials Korda Chod Hooks Korda Mouth Trap