If at first you don’t succeed…

Despite having blanked on her first visit to Northamptonshire’s Bluebell Lakes’, Bethany Roberts was so taken with the venue that she wanted to fish it again – and came away with the fishery’s ‘Catch of the Month’ for October by netting a common which tipped the scales at 34lb 7oz.

Making the return visit to the venue’s Sandmartin Lake with her dad David, Bethany fished a heli-safe leader system with a single pop-up on a Ronnie rig after casting out 12 wraps with no freebies over top.

Having hooked the fish it took Bethany about 15 minutes to bring it to the net because she was nervous of losing it in the weed.

Meanwhile dad David, who had fished Bluebell twice previously and caught both times, had to settle for catching fish of 20lbs and 25lbs  using a single wafter.

Afterwards he said: “Bluebell Lakes is a stunning fishery not just because of the fishing but also because of the abundance of wildlife. When you have been once you want to keep going back.”

Bethany Roberts with her 34lb 7oz Bluebell Lakes common

Written by Peter Cliff
With career in Public Relations and journalism, Peter worked for local, regional and national newspapers before moving into Public Relations. A regular contributor to several major angling publications over the years, he launched Fisheries.co.uk in 1999.