A very special autumn capture from a low-stock, ‘forgotten’ pit has made Solar Tackle team member Alain Servaes’ autumn season. In fact, it’s made his year. Alain explains:

“I’ve been targeting a ‘forgotten’ big pit for the autumn. It’s a huge water with a very low stock, but the carp that are in there are very special.

“Due to the nature of the lake, all of my trips there were short, overnight session, with stop-offs at the lake through the week to bait up and keep an eye on the water.

“I’d fished a few overnighters since the start of the autumn, and although I hadn’t yet caught, I felt that I was getting close.

With some good weather forecast, I baited my chosen area with Solar’s new TunaMino freebies a couple of times during the week leading up to the session.

“With my gear packed and waiting for the evening to get down to the lake I was like a kid in a sweet shop, as this is exactly the style of fishing I love the most, where you never really know what’s going to happen, but the result could be something very special. Knowing that there is a low stock in the big pit, feeling that I was getting close to catching with all the effort that I’d put in and having the weather on my side, I couldn’t wait to get the rods out.

“Tucked away in the undergrowth under my brolly I had both rods fishing close together. Presenting a Tunamino bottom bait over a scattering of TunaMino freebies, in the same area I’d been pre-baiting, I placed one rod on top of a gravel bar and the other at the bottom of it.

“Just before first light a couple of bleeps woke me up. As I sat up and looked out at the rods the right-hand rod took off; a blistering take off the top of the bar.

“I played the fish with my heart in my mouth. The heavy, plodding runs made it feel like a good fish, and not knowing exactly what may be in the lake, I was excited and scared through the whole fight.

“It took 15 minutes before I finally slid the fish over the net cord, a 37lb unknown mirror. Overjoyed with the capture, I secured the net in the margins briefly while I got all my gear sorted to take a few trophy shots before slipping the mirror back home and quickly packing up as it was now daylight.

“With a couple of weeks of autumn left, I’ll continue at the ‘secret’ pit until the real cold weather sets in, so you never know what might be in store for the next few trips.”