Paul Garner catches massive 54lb 8oz carp on bream tackle

Although he was targeting the specimen bream in St Ives Lagoon, Cambs, Paul Garner certainly wasn’t complaining when he slipped his net under the venue’s most sought-after resident – The Fat Lady at a weight of 54lb 8oz.

The huge mirror smashed the West Midlands-based all-rounder’s previous carp pb of 32lb, and came from a gravel seam at 40yds just one hour after he baited the feature with 80 balls of groundbait.

“I saw a carp show right over the bait an hour after I’d catapulted it in and had the take a few minutes later,” said Paul. “Because there was a heavy algal bloom I couldn’t see what I’d hooked during the fight and it was only when I saw it in the net that I realised which fish I’d caught.”

His tactics consisted of a trimmed-down boilie mounted on a size 12 Korda Mixa hook. The following morning he banked one of his target species – a 12lb 9oz bream.