I’ve just set a new match venue record at Higham Lane Fishery near Hinckley - and I did it using Sonu Fin Perfect 8mm feed pellets to snare 288lb of fighting-fit carp!

I drew an end-peg and the wind was blowing into a bay adjacent to me. It was the first sunny day of the spring and I think the fish headed there on the wind and because it was a bit of a sun trap. They came shallow and wanted the sun on their backs.

I tied up a small tubful of 8mm Sonu Fin Perfect pellets using 0.11mm Preston Powerline , so that the line was tied around the pellet and all I needed to do was slip the hook point under the line. It made an inviting plinking noise and the fish wanted to feed.

To make the knot all you do is tie a windknot but push the tag end through twice. Now put the pellet inside the loop you have formed and pull down tight, before finishing off with two overhand knots.

Trim the tag ends neatly and that’ it. I can tie two a minute and I keep them in a small tub in my carryall, ready for when needed. You can catch up to four fish on one pellet before the pellet starts to dissolve, so you don’t need many for a good bagging session.

I started off at 16 metres and then swung round toward the bay and fished shallow at 13 metres, catching fish up to 15lb. I used a 13H Hollo elastic in a Preston Pullakit and teamed it with 0.15mm Preston Powerline.

The float was a 4 x 12 Preston PB Inter 7 and I fished it anything from eight inches to 18 inches deep In the end I did not need to feed anything at all because the fish wanted to be there and I actually stopped fishing five minutes before the all-out because I lost my hook ad I knew that by the time I had rigged up again it would be time for the all-out to be sounded.

It was a new personal best for me - my previous biggest weight had been 262lb, and it was also a new best for the venue, which had previously been 220lb.

So all in all, a cracking day’s fishing.