Due to the red letter day I managed to have on this lake last season, I opted for the same swim as before, which generally fishes well when it turns dark. My plan was to bait gradually throughout the day with scopex squid robin reds on one rod, and method on the other, with a VERY oily mix.

As dad and I settled into our swims (he was about 3 swims up) we noticed how considerably the crayfish had grown, and how many of them there were. Every single cast resulted in roughly 5 minutes of crayfish making the hanger bounce up and down. They were eating everything! Boilies, pellets, even tiger nuts!

After managing to catch one with my bare hands (a very frightening situation, which my Dad unsurprisingly found hilarious), I put it back, and stared in dismay as an extremely old and seemingly arrogant angler plonked in the swim up from me, and started chucking in what I could only describe as soup into the water. Whatever it was, it was ruining my baiting.

I moved 2 swims up from my dad on the other side, and I sat and sulked. I suddenly couldn't be bothered, and I cast my rods and went for a kip (by this time, I had also caught a crayfish with my hands!).

I was woken by my phone ringing, my dad was into a fish, but by the time I reached him it was off.

I strolled back to my swim, now with a slight hope of catching a carp. I started my baiting again (dad weren't to happy though, it was his bait!) just under a close tree, maybe 6 foot out. I waited until dark before I placed a bait there, as I thought it might let them dine on all the spod, and get confident in what they were eating.

It turned about 6, and it was just getting dark. I literally lowered my rod under the tree, just next to a mass of twigs and leaves entering the water.

Pops come over, took his bait back, and walked back to his swim. At this point, it was chucking it down, and as usual, I had an absolute meltdown run. I struck into a dead weight, but something was definately kicking. I pulled the fish to the surface, and it was lodged in all the twigs. It looked like a small double, and I just kept the tension on, it gave an almighty struggle and freed itself from the roots.

I quickly got the fish in the net, and shouted to my Dad, who's partly deaf, so he didn't hear a thing. I got the fish on the mat, and i could see the Twister hook hanging out of its mouth. Then I saw dad running over.

'That's a new pb boy.'

I new it was a 20 now it was on the bank, but the prospect of a new pb wasn't even in my mind. We weighed the massive mirror, and it went 25.1 pound... A NEW PERSONAL BEST!

I was absolutely bewildered, but I was ecstatic. Not wanting to ruin my day, I packed up before it was pitch black, and we drove to the nearest takeaway, and celebrated with a kebab. what a day!!