Catfish Fishing, Furnace Lakes

Fish Aint Heavy, That's My Brother

Furnace Lakes, Horsham, West Sussex, UK

Camp Catnip

Thinking ahead to an upcoming trip Carp fishing in France and sorting through and maintaining my tackle got me all excited, I've mostly been beach casting this year, and although I'm thoroughly enjoying the thrill of trying to catching as many species as possible, the lure of trying to catching a giant freshwater powerhouse was too much, of coarse I mean the Wels Catfish, I had landed a 27lb last year, and as happy as I was, I knew this was a just little one, but now I wanted a bigger one! With only a few hours notice I set about making some some rigs and getting the tackle ready and even buying a day fishing licence online for my 3rd rod as my licence only covers 2 rods. Tackling these big fish with 3 rods in the water can be tricky, and I was concerned that I would need help, so was happy that my brother Scott was able and wanted to come, a keen fisherman himself, I couldn't wait to spend some time with him at my favourite fishery, knowing that he would have a very good chance to beat his PB which stood at 9lb, I was just as excited for him as myself.

Space Filling Picture, That's All

We left early to arrive early, Scott got a swim straight away, whilst I waited a few hours, for the swim next door to become available, which gave me a chance to spend some time talking to other anglers, and find out what, where and how fish were being caught, all seemed good, with Carp and Catfish coming out all over to the tactics I was prepared for. I decided to fish 2 rods for Catfish, and 1 for Carp. The Catfish rods had 20lb mono mainline and the rigs were made from 40lb catlink braid to protect against the sharp rasping teeth of the Cats, with a size 1 pellet hook, baited with 2 x 20mm Halibut pellets, or donkey chokers as we like to call them. The carp rod was 15lb mono mainline to 18lb soft braid and size 8 hook baited with a single 15mm innovate cream crunch boiley. I decided not to bait to much and opted only to use a pva bag of assorted mixed size pellets each cast for the Catfish, and catapult 10 or so boileys out every 20 mins over my Carp rig, both tactics had worked well in the past, and it seemed like a logical starting place.

Fish Hooked, Well Done Bro!

It wasn't long before we was getting action, frustratingly I had 2 clear runs on the Catfish rods but didn't connect with anything, and Scott had the same on his Carp rods, I had said to him earlier to only expect to catch 1 fish, and possibly loose few, I could sense his frustration, and thought that the missed runs and quick bites were probably little Bream toying with the large baits, I was wrong!, as we watched his bobbing repeatedly bounce up and down once again, I shrugged my shoulders and said "why not, hit it", he did, and the rod pulled right round into a big arch as he connected into a large fish on his Carp rod, but adding to his frustration after a 5 minute fight the Catfish's teeth cut through the braid. A little later I had managed to connect in a fish after a big run, but as big as the run was, it only resulted in a small 5lb Catfish, but at least I wasn't blanking. Then almost immediately my Carp rod tore off, with a screaming run, I struck and played a very large carp which I estimated at over 30lb only to have him spit the hook on the 4th attempt at landing him, No! was this my one chance missed? It was getting late, but I was still confident as we had dusk, night and dawn yet to come and there seemed to be a lot more runs than on previous trips.

Wakey Wakey, Not A Dream!

Just before dusk Scott had hooked into a big fish, this time it was on a Catfish rod so there was little chance of him loosing this one the same way again. and he didn't. After a very careful fight, he had landed his first ever Catfish, jumping from a 9lb PB skipping all doubles and twentys going straight into a new PB of 30lb 4oz. Whatever happened now he was one happy man! Optimisticly I refreshed my baits and recast all 3 rods just before it got dark, but I had noticed that it had gone really quiet and it stayed that way without a bleep from the bite alarms deep into the night. I had just fallen asleep when I was awoken by a slow gradually run on my Carp rod , bolting out of bed in sheer panic mode probably still somewhat asleep I struck and hooked into a large fish. It seemed to be a Catfish, and didn't seem to know or care it was hooked, and swam about 50m  into the corner of the lake at a ridiculously slow pace taking line at 1cm per sec, I've seen faster snails if im honest. I just couldn't stop or turn him! putting as much pressure as I'd dare on the lighter Carp rig, I played this fish for nearly 20 minutes very tentatively, and had visions of the fish cutting through the braid like a mincer, I wasn't wrong, ping the line went, and once I reeled in, I could see the splaid end of my braid rig which was now half it's length, sods law!, and angrily I thought out loud "couldn't you of picked up the baits on either of my 2 other rods?" Although my luck was being kept at bay, Scott's wasn't, and during my fight had hooked and landed his second Catfish weighting in a at 22lb. luckily having just about finished re baiting and casting all my rods, the heavens opened up in a torrential downpour, not only dampening my spirits, but forcing me back into my sleeping bag and closing the door of my bivey, seemingly ending the nights fishing.

37lb 14oz PB Wels Catfish, And My Biggest Ever UK Fish

After 4 hours sleep, I awoke to full daylight, the rain had stopped, and the rods seemed exactly as they were before I went to sleep., I Reeled them in and found they were all still baited, at least I hadn't missed anything. With only a few hours left to fish,  for the last time I refreshed and recast all three rods. I had taken a stroll to Scott's swim to use his cooker and make myself a morning coffee and a tasty porridge, when I could hear an bite alarm "Is that mine?" instinct just made me start to run with porridge in hand, galloping along still unsure whether it was my alarms, but when I realised it actually was one of my bite alarms, I speeded up into a 100 meter sprint that Linford Christie would of been proud of. Still with porridge in hand I struck my rod, which had been deftly cast underneath a overhanging willow tree. I was on! I knew it was a Catfish straight away by the way the fish was in no hurry and the occasional pinging of the line as the fish curled and spun in the water. and I was confident now as this was on a Catfish Rig, but I wasn't in any hurry, this fish didn't want to come out and play, opting to sit at home under the overhanging tree, and I wasn't going to bully him out, so patiently I waited, just keeping the pressure on, even having time for Scott to spoon feed me the rest of my porridge like a baby, because my hands were busy holding the rod., cheekily saying "Feed me, I need my strength." personally I was just grateful that I actually got to eat it whilst it was still hot. It took about 10 minutes before the fish decided to move out from hiding, and as he attempted to swim along the far bank, I was able to slowly tease him across the lake and into my landing net. I had done it on my last cast a new PB weighing in at 37lb 14oz, and the biggest fish that I have caught in the UK, and yet again I have left Furnace Lake with a new record, and even better, 37lb is still just a baby, so I still got a perfect excuse to return! Hmmm.... and don't think I've let you off Mr Carp!

Goodbye From Me, And Goodbye From Him