After hearing whispers of giant crucians coming from a Midlands stillwater, Nic Bradley decided to see if the stories were true. Despite initially being sceptical, his leap of faith was rewarded in spectacular fashion when a last-minute bite produced a stunning 4lb 8dr specimen, one of the best fish of his angling career.
“I’d heard rumours of some big crucians coming out of a Midlands stillwater, and although I was a bit sceptical at first, I decided to head over there and have a go for them.
“It’s a large water with a low stock of crucians, but there are plenty of tench, which I expected would keep me content while I waited for my target species to come along.
“On arrival, I set up on a bank where a few other angers were catching and began fishing a waggler in around 3ft 6ins of water. But with only a few small roach to show for my efforts, I felt the swim was a little too shallow, so moved around 40m along the bank to a deeper area where there was around 5ft of water.
“I floatfished double red maggot over a bed of Dynamite Silver X Roach, liquidised bread and a bit of Sensas 3000 Gros Gardons, and regularly loosefed a few maggots.
“Several tench to around 4lb came to the net over the next few hours, alongside a few roach and rudd, before the swim went quiet.
“I’d been using a 5AAA Dave Harrell Sensitip waggler but, as the wind picked up, the lake became choppy with lots of tow, so I switched to an 8AAA Drake bodied waggler.
“I undershotted this by a BB, then added an AAA shot 3ins from the hook, which would sit on the bottom and anchor the bait in the tow. With this set-up, the bite is either a lift or a positive sail-away.
“It was now 2.45pm, with about 30 minutes left before I had to leave, when suddenly the float slid away.
“I connected with what I assumed to be another tench, as the fish tore off to my right. I turned it and, once under the tip, I saw a flash of gold. ‘A tench’s belly,’ I thought, as it fought doggedly in the brown-tinged water."
“Eventually, to my amazement, a big crucian surfaced and as I netted it, my jaw hit the floor.
“I looked in awe at the golden flanks wallowing in the landing net. At 4lb 8dr, it was one of my best-ever catches.”
THE BEST FLOAT RODS ARE IDEAL FOR FISHING THE WAGGLER FOR CRUCIANS...
