My best catch!

This week: Billy puts his newborn daughter on the scales after a productive winter carp session.

THE end of 2019 could not have been more eventful, and it has also been an actionpacked start to the New Year.

In bitterly cold temperatures, I followed up a pukka 41 lb Cowlands mirror carp with a brace of 20 lb-plus commons, which I thought would be my last fish of 2019, as my daughter was due to be born.

With no signs of baby Flowers arriving, even after the due date, and with no work pencilled in my diary, I opted to get the ‘sticks’ back out for a short day session.

I knew that my fiancée, Charlotte, could call me at any minute to say that she was going into labour, so I had to stay close to Romford’s Queen’s Hospital. It was the perfect time to try a venue that I’d driven past hundreds of times without ever having fished it.

The Chase Fishery, in Dagenham, has two lakes, the Front Lake, the biggest, at 9 acres, containing carp to over 40 lb. But I chose to fish the seven-acre Back Lake, as it has a good track record for producing action in the colder months, having been stocked with a big head of carp to over 30 lb.