This AnglersTale was submitted by Dave Burns.
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The quest for a personal best

I just thought I'd share my happiness with you...for many years now I have been an angler after being introduced to the sport at a young age by my Dad, who was - and still is - a very keen match angler. The early days were spent catching roach, perch and practically anything that was willing to take my bait. However as school ended for good and Uni began, I had an ever increasing amount of time to spend on the banks and now armed with transport I could hunt a little further from my home in Great Wyrley.
Much time was spent at Calf Heath Reservoir catching mainly bream and perch on the pole. One of my good friends -Tolley, had been fishing for a while, but I never went along until one day we arranged to go to a pool in Abbotts Bromley. Arriving we saw a well established pool surrounded by big trees which backed onto a field of corn (nothing heard but bird song). Tolley chucked his rods out to a spot he'd had plenty of action in the past, whilst I set up next to him on the pole fishing 6m along the margin with tactics for smaller fish. After an hour the rain started to pour and it was starting to look bleak when my float shot under causing my heart to race faster than Def Leppards drummer on speed! I had never seen so much elastic coming out the end of my dad's old Tri-Cast pole, with six pound line I took it really carefully not to exert too much pressure on the fish and after 15mins of worry, a head emerged from the depths and was soon brimming the edges of my net.
It was the biggest live fish I had ever seen - a scale-perfect 10lb common. From this day forth I was well and truly hooked, fishing at every opportunity I continued to catch many a low double-figure carp - mirrors, commons and leathers, taking pics of everything. Being a little older now I started to read dad's Angling Times on a regular basis, seeing pictures of truly massive carp and gaining more and more wisdom from the articles and writings from some of the biggest names in the business.
My angling was going from strength to strength with many new methods being tried and tested which produced me some of the best looking fish ever from the bottom, middle and top layers of each venue.
I had finally come to finish Uni and start work, which for me drastically reduced my time on the banks though I still went at every opportunity, but attendance was reduced due to other fads (as I call them) like golf was grabbing the attention of friends, so it was more and more just me sitting there - I didn't mind though, it's the peace and quiet that along with the occasional old angler to talk to that I enjoy.
I finally got a girlfriend a year or so ago and this was the best thing that could ever happen to me. She enjoyed coming fishing with me (summer more than winter) and persuaded me to try places further afield and I visited places like Bishops Bowl, the Willows Pool and many other beautiful places until this year when she suggested we go on a fishing weekend over the April Bank Holiday.
After a good search, Michelle came out with a place called White Acres, which to me was unknown until I looked on the Net and without thinking said yes. We arrived there and the place was full of young to old anglers of every description. I had set my heart to go for the bigger fish and was equipped with my recently bought Grays Prodigy 2.0tc. After talking to the 'big guy' in the tackle shop I was on my way to the quieter of the two specimen pools. The morning of the expedition arrived and I made an early start to get the peg I wanted, but on arrival there was no-one else there so I cautiously and quietly made my way round the pool to get to a lovely looking peg on the boundary of the pool.
With all my knowledge gained from AT and dad's match techniques I began to construct the selected rigs. After only an hour the rod tip bent round further than I had ever seen and I slowly but surely landed a stunning mirror of 18lbs, this was a new pb and I was happy to sit back and not catch another thing - so unfortunately I did just that, that is - not catch anything. Until I noticed about six white shadows right in front of me... very quietly I picked up a rod and my net and slowly followed the pack around the edge of the pool until I lost site of them under floating debris. I had nothing to loose so I lay my rod on the floor and hand-swung my lead right in the edge along with 3 boilies and stood over the edge peering in. I didn't have to wait long until I saw what I could only describe as a giant panda's head go bolting off and to my amazement my line was screaming off the spool also. I picked the rod up and if I thought my rod was at the limit on the last fish I was very much mistaken! With only 8lb line I slowly calmed the unknown creature down until I got it close enough for my lovely girlfriend Michelle to scoop it up. RESULT!!! When I tried to lift this out, I new this was gonna be the biggest thing I have and probably ever will catch. The excitement went from strength to strength when I saw the quality of this great big ghost carp and after frantically shouting for some scales and taking as many pictures as possible we weighed it in at 25lbs - I could not believe it even to this day!
You only have to look at the expression on my face to know how much this fish means to me.
All the reading and advice had come good and proved to me that you can - if you try! I still look at the picture today and it will always bring a smile! I know its not Benson but when you smash your pb twice in a day, there's no better feeling and as Yaz once said 'the only way is up'

David Burns