Big Bill falls to the Clubs

It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to fish one of the most exclusive lakes in the country, so when the chance to fish at Acton Burnell’s Bottom Lake for a week with my good mate Steve Briggs came up I jumped at it. The two of us fished the rock-hard 7 acre estate lake a couple of years back, Steve coming away exceptionally well with six carp from seven nights of fishing. When you consider there are only 21 carp in the venue, he did amazingly well, with a little bit of luck also coming his way.

 On that occasion I only fished four nights, losing one on my last morning, so I really did want to make amends on this occasion. The first night I managed to get off the mark straight away with a cracking 33lb mirror, falling to Club Mix 18mm bottom bait in a deep channel in the middle of the lake. The following day I decided to rest the swim as the Bottom Lake doesn’t tend to fish very well in daylight hours, putting the rods back out at 8pm. The conditions were absolutely electric, perfect for big fish, and less than an hour later I was latched into the venue’s most sought after fish, Bill at 51lb, a stunning old common that’s seen the net of some really famous anglers over the last twenty years, including Kevin Maddocks, Alan Taylor and Dave Moore to name just a few. It only comes out a couple of times a year so I feel very privileged to have caught it in such a short space of time.

The amazing Club Mix had done it once again, assisting me to land yet another good fish. It seems to keep catching the biggies wherever it is used, just ask the rest of the Solar team who have also been having some exceptional success with it. Long may it continue, that’s all I can say!

Simon Crow