As you can see water levels were at least a foot down on normal and being a shallow lake anyway I had no more than three feet depth of water in front of me.
I decided to fish both rods with a method feeder with a long two foot hooklink to a size 4 Korda Wide Gape B hook with a 22ml halibut pellet on the hair.
I thought I had blown it when a catfish hooked at 11.30pm on the right hand rod fell off. Unfortunately this is a problem I seem to find with large carp sized barbless hooks. For certain species such as crucians on small hooks I often prefer barbless and if anything land more than I would on a barbed hook. Apart from a visit from a local moggie (the furry variety) the rest of the night passed quietly.
At ten to six in the morning I had a gentle take on my left hand rod which did not take line from the baitrunner but merely bent the rod round. Catfish are the hardest fighting fish in freshwater and in such shallow water several long runs and bouts of tail waving were inevitable before I finally drew her over the net. The scales pronounced a weight of 21lb 4oz and after a couple of quick photos I enjoyed watching her snake back into the coloured waters of Willowcroft's Six Island lake.
