Dad plonked me and my gear in the car park, and sped off to work. I knew exactly what swim I was heading for, due to my pre-baiting on the lake. Now the 'quiet' lake is by no means easy, with only maybe 15 twenty plus fish to winkle out in 6 acres of water. However, I was confident, as I had pre-baited a swim purely with Nash Scopex Squid Robin Red boilies, with a handful of tigers here and there. All in all I put in roughly 6 kilos of boilies in the pond in 2 evenings.

As I approached the swim (which took ages to find, due the fact that it was pitch black), I literally dropped all of my gear, and sat on my chair for 10 minutes, absorbing the atmosphere, and waiting it to brighten up a bit!

Eventually I could just see enough to be able to whack out 2 baits. On both I tied a stringer consisting of no more than 3 baits, as I thought a little an often approach may be better, as there was already bait in there. On one I had a chopped 18mm bottom bait, and 2 tigers on the other. I managed to position them both perfect on my first cast, one about 10 ft behind a small set of lily's, the other on the far side of a gravel patch, just nudging the silt.

I then fired out about 30 boilies over my hook baits, and then I sat back, and watched the water. I had a good feeling that the day was going to be good.

I remember reading Rob Maylins 'Tiger Bay', when he encountered a fish known as the 'veiny one'. As he had a run in the book, my alarm started howling at me, just waiting for the rod to ripped through the snag ears.

A short battle then passed, and from 6:45 in the morning until 12 'O' clock, a managed no less than four fish, the biggest being 14 pound. I was ecstatic, as I knew my baiting had paid off, although not with one of the elusive 20's....

from then until 5:30, I had no action whatsoever. I still kept the bait going in consistently though, and throughout the day I had been baiting close to a tiny bush on my right. I was casually chucking in a handful of carp sweets when the most almighty swirl came up from underneath the tree. To be honest, at this point I was bricking it, as I didn't know what to do first!

I hastily wound in my rod, and added a bag full of crushed boilies and tigers. This was soon flicked to the bush, and from out of nowhere, my Dad popped up with some munch.

'How you gettin' on?' said my dad, and before I could even open my mouth, my Stevie roared into life, and it was the bush rod!

After a 10 minute battle, I managed to net the best looking mirror of my life. It was 20.2 pound of fully scaled perfection. And for an added bonus, no one on the lake had ever heard of a fully scaled mirror coming out over the 20 pound mark, only singles.... another unknown fish from the water, nice! My dad took some nice shots, and I put the fish back. I was soon casting the rod out again, hoping that there might be a few down there.

It seemed like hours that the rod had been out, but it was only 30 minutes since the capture of the 20, and he reel was in meltdown mode yet again.

After another long winded battle, I had an almighty common sitting in the bottom of my net. It went 21.4 on the scales, and I was literally lost for words. A brace of elusive 20's, and from my target water... what more could I ask for?

Finally, it was time to pack up. I did the usual, stove first, PVA, tackle box, screaming bite alarm... (at this point, I managed to fall over my bag, and then slip on some weed on the bank) my dad was into a carp, on my rods! oh well, he gave me a lift there, he deserves one. When he got the fish in, I was absolutely astounded to see yet another 20 on the bank! It went 20 on the dot, and back it went, covering me in water, weed and silt... thanks.