After a slow 2-3 weeks on the cat front, I decided to try a livebait under one of the CatMaster Dumbell Rattlers for the first time and at around 10:30pm I had a couple of bleeps on my middle Rx+ followed by a rather large slap on the surface and an absolutely ripping take which was stripping line from my tight clutch without a care in the world! Unfortunately upon lifting the rod, the hook didn't take hold and I pulled straight out of whatever it was, leaving me feeling rather deflated and sorry for myself.
Thankfully, by some stroke of luck, my livey was still there alive and kicking however, so back out she went and a couple of hours later the illuminated swinger slowly rose to the top once more, the tip pulled round and the clutch started clicking away, only this time the hook had well and truly taken hold before a 10-15 minute battle ensued.
Several long and powerful runs later she finally surfaced and took a gulp of air, ready to be scooped into my waiting net and after unhooking and hoisting her up onto the scales a weight of 57lb 2oz was registered to mark a new UK PB for myself and it is also the biggest cat to have been landed from the lakes so far this year.
