16 year wait for a Richworth Linear thirty ends with 44lb 2oz mirror
After 16 years of trying, Ian ‘Chemo’ Russell has caught his first ever 30lb-plus carp from the Richworth Linear Fisheries complex with this 44lb 2oz mirror. And it was a critically-balanced maggot rig which finally brought an end to his long wait for one of the specimen carp which the Oxfordshire day-ticket site has become famous for.
The Avid Carp consultant and angling coach has been targeting Manor Farm for the past 12 months and over the last few weeks he had been catching steadily using single hookbaits at range. Despite the regular action he had struggled to get among the lake’s bigger residents and, never one to rest on his laurels, he knew that a change in tactics was required.
After spotting several massive carp show at close range on a previous visit, Ian plumbed the area with his marker rod looking for carp-holding features. Eventually, he found a small, firm area at 70yds range that he was convinced was caused by feeding carp.
On his next session on the busy water he decided that a switch to maggots may be the best way to get one of the lake’s big girls feeding.
He baited the feature which he’d found with a gallon of wrigglers and then cast out a 10mm red Avid Carp High Lite hookbait tipped with around 15 maggots over the top. Before doing so, however, he trimmed-down the High Lite to critically-balance the setup and make sure that the hookbait was just hovering off the lakebed. “With this presentation I know that as soon as a carp starts feeding over my bed of bait and comes anywhere near the rig, the chances are the hookbait is going to fly into its mouth,” explained Ian.
The decision paid-off and in the early hours of the morning his right-hand rod burst into life. “The fight was absolutely incredible, lasting at least 30 minutes. I could tell from the way it was fighting that it had to be one of the lake’s A-Team. Every time I thought I had it under control it would start tearing more line off my spool. Eventually, after a few heart-stopping moments, a massive mirror emerged from the depths and I bundled it into the landing net. I couldn’t believe it when I realised that it was the much sought-after Spike.”
Incredibly, despite catching countless carp to over 40lb from various other waters, he had never managed to bank a thirty from Richworth Linear which has been a regular haunt of his for almost two decades.
“I’ve fished on the lakes here for over 16 years and have caught hundreds of carp but for some reason the thirties have always eluded me,” Ian told Angling Times. “I’ve had anglers I’ve been doing tuitions with catch them but they just never came to my rods. Hopefully, now that I’ve had this one I won’t have to wait so long for my second,” he added.
The Brute landed at 53lb 6oz
After a three year break from fishing, Luke Gray returned to the sport in style with this 53lb 6oz mirror known as The Brute from a Berkshire stillwater.
The sought-after specimen, which smashed the 26-year-old New Malden-based carpenter’s pb by 8lb, was caught on only his seventh night on the tricky 14-acre venue.
Targeting one corner of the lake where he’d regularly seen a few fish moving around, he baited an overhanging snaggy tree with a light scattering of Tails Up OCM boilies and cast an 18mm hookbait over the top with a small PVA bag.
Arriving just before dark, he got his rods in position and four hours later his alarm burst into life.
“The fish tore off straight into a weed bed and although I kept the pressure on, I couldn’t get it to budge,” explained Luke. “I waded out to change the direction from which I was pulling and I eventually got it moving again. At this point I unfortunately discovered my waders had sprung a leak and it took me another 40 uncomfortable minutes to get the fish near the net. I scooped up the huge ball of weed thinking that I’d banked a decent thirty. As I peeled off the weed the carp just got bigger and bigger until I was eventually looking down at The Brute.”
Luke’s winning presentation consisted of a 6ins Atomic Tackle 25lb Jel-E-Wyre hooklink with a size 6 Gunsmoke Grabba hook and a 4oz flat pear inline drop-off lead.
“I became self-employed a few years ago so fishing unfortunately had to be put on the back burner. I recently decided to dust the rods off and have a go on the venue, but I certainly didn’t expect to end up posing with The Brute for the cameras so soon,” he added.
3 days left to vote in the National Angling Awards!
If you haven’t yet had your say in the biggest angling vote of the year then now’s the time. We want to know your favourite angler, best bait and what tackle items you rate the highest. It takes only seconds to support your favourite brands, click here to make your opinion count.
Additive proves key to Pretty's winter bagging
An angler that has continued to bag up at commercial carp waters despite the dip in temperatures has revealed that an easily sourced additive has plays a big part in helping him succeed.
Match and pleasure ace Ian Pretty has been in great form all year and has kept up his high standards going into the cold season, with triple figure hauls of carp being taken by him regularly.
“It’s an additive that gives your hookbaits lots of colour and flavour and helps them stand out to lethargic carp. It’s brought me bites on even the toughest days in winter and it’ll be my number one bait choice in the coming months,” explained Ian.
For more details on the winning additive and how to use it, pick up a copy of next weeks Angling Times, on the shelves from Tuesday December 6.
First bite results in target fish
John Kneebone may have to rethink his plans for the winter after he caught his target fish on his first session on Boscathnoe Reservoir in the form of this 37lb 14oz common.
The Cornwall-based Fox consultant chose a swim which gave him access to a set of dying lilies as well as the open water and he put his faith in snowman hookbaits consisting of Mainline Baits bottom baits and a 10mm Hi-Vis Pineapple pop-up.
“This was my first bite from this water where I planned to spend some time during the colder months. I think I’ll be turning my attentions to a low-stock 40-acre water that holds some very old fish now,” said John, whose winning setup included a Fox 20lb Gravel Brown Coretex hooklink and a size 6 Fox Arma Point SSSP hook.
World's best carp landed
The world’s biggest carp has been landed by Mark Ryder in the form of this 92lb mirror known as the Scar Fish from Les Graviers in France.
The Northamptonshire-based rod adopted a heavy baiting approach and introduced around 40kg of Baitcraft boilies over a large area at 120yds at the back of a gravel bar.
All four of his rods were positioned along the feature and in the early hours of the morning he landed his first fish of the trip with a 57lb 4oz mirror. Two forties then graced his net before he hooked into a fourth fish the next afternoon.
He said: “As soon as I picked up the rod I knew it was something special. After 40 minutes I eventually landed the colossal carp, and it was the one I’d always dreamt of catching. I was blown away by the size of it. The venue owner, Luke Moffatt, came to help with the weighing and on the scales it went 92lb. It has to be a fish of a lifetime.”
Mark used double 18mm Baitcraft T1 hookbaits on blow-back rigs tied with size 6 Nash Fang Twister hooks and 12ins Nash Missing Link hooklinks.
Findlay's dominance at Packington Somers continues
Commercial fishery ace Andy Findlay kept up his impressive run of form at Packington Somers by picking up his fifth win on the bounce.
The Preston Innovations ace made sure of another victory after he was able to extract 56lb 8oz from peg 29 on Gearys Pool at the Warwickshire complex.
It was far from hectic sport for Andy though, with just nine fish falling to his pole and corn approach presented tight to the bushes, with the biggest specimen sending the scales round to 15lb 7oz.
Bullock Farm set for winter stocking boost
Anglers visiting Bullock Farm can expect to keep busy over the winter period after bosses revealed hundreds of fish are set to introduced into the complex.
Fully aware that the carp shoals will soon enter hibernation, the Somerset fishery has turned to silverfish to maintain hectic sport, with a large number of green and golden tench set to go into the Match Lake, with the South Pool welcoming hundreds of skimmers and bream to 5lb.
For more details on the complex visit www.bullockfarm.co.uk
Monster rainbow landed!
There were some absolutely cracking fish caught last week at Packington Trout Fishery, near Coventry, with the biggest being this incredible 13lb rainbow trout caught by Ade Taylor, from Atherstone in Warwickshire.
He was fishing the bank of Cocks Close Lake when the fish fell to a Cat’s Whisker lure fished on an intermediate line.
Shore anglers enjoying good flatfish sport
Shore anglers in southern Ireland have been enjoying excellent sport from various species of flatfish in recent weeks, with peeler crab hookbaits doing most of the damage.
Despite the gale force winds colouring up the water, multiple bags of flounder to over 2lb have been taken on three hook (2 up and 1 down) flapper rigs from the South Wexford coast.
One of the best fish was this 2lb-plus specimen caught by Brian Cooke, who works for the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers.
Solid PVA bag tactics fool 40lb 9oz common
Kev Hewitt enjoyed a memorable session on Christchurch on the Linch Hill complex in Oxfordshire landing this stunning 40lb 9oz common and three other thirties to 39lb 2oz.
All of the 27-year-old Bristol-based rod’s fish were taken on CC Moore Acid Pear Hellraiser pop-ups fished inside a solid bag filled with pellets boosted with Bloodworm Liquid over a bed of maggots.
“Each fish came at around 4am in the morning like clockwork, and the biggest of them, known as the Toejam, came on the final morning of the session,” Kev told Angling Times.
His hookbaits were mounted on 4ins, 15lb Drennan Super Specialist Sink Braid hooklinks and size 8 ESP Curve-Shanx hooks.
New Preston's DVD to be launched
The Absolute Match Fishing television Series, hosted by Tommy Pickering, is now available on DVD.
Following its huge popularity since its broadcasting on Sky Sports, the double DVD disc set is available for £9.99 and includes 30 minutes of previously unseen footage.
Tommy fishes all over the country, with guest appearances from anglers such as Des Shipp at Barston Lakes, Lee Edwards on the Wye, Andy Findlay paste fishing at the Glebe and Lee Kerry on the Stainforth and Keadby canal.
There is also footage of Steve Sanders pellet waggler fishing and Emma Pickering fishing the pole and pellet.
It is available from mid-December, find out more at www.prestoninnovations.com.
Poundland found guilty of selling unsafe catapults
Poundland Limited has been fined £3,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,107 after pleading guilty to selling unsafe fishing catapults in several Norfolk stores.
This case follows an identical proceeding that Norfolk County Council Trading Standards brought against Poundland in November 2010. This resulted in the company being fined £4000 and order to pay costs of £878.
A consumer complained last year to the Norfolk County Council Trading Standards after when using one of the catapults, a piece of the elastic became detached, striking them in the chest and causing a minor injury.
The same consumer found an identical catapult on sale in the Great Yarmouth store last February. They again brought this to the attention of Trading Standards. Officers undertook an investigation in to the safety of the catapults. They concluded that the catapults could pose a moderate to significant danger to fishermen using them.
Otters found dead in illegal crayfish net
An angler has this week told of his heartbreak at finding the dead bodies of a female otter and her cub in an illegal crayfish net at a fishery in East Yorkshire.
The individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, made the sinister discovery at Broomfleet Washlands, a small group of waters that offer free angling. He says that he has now taken it upon himself to bailiff the waters for free after a spate of other worrying finds.
As well as other unregulated crayfish traps, he’s also found setlines and come across people filleting pike and barbecuing them on the bank. Now he is calling for the Environment Agency to take action to prevent any further damage to fish stocks and other wildlife.
“Finding these beautiful creatures, which must have come to such a distressful and painful end, was horrific. It has to be the last straw,” he said.
“These lakes suffer at the hands of eastern Europeans who take fish away for the table. Having spoken to many of them, I’m convinced that it’s a case of them not understanding our culture or the damage illegal nets and set lines can do.
When contacted by AT, a spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We are aware that this is a growing problem in Broomfleet, so we have arranged for our bailiffs to patrol this fishery much more regularly in future to help us crackdown on any illegal fishing.”
VOTE NOW in the 2011 National Angling Awards!
THE biggest ever vote undertaken in the history of the angling will decide fishing’s most debated question’s… who is the ‘Greatest Angler of all-time’? ‘What’s the nation’s favourite bait’? and ‘The best innovation of 2011’? There’s seventeen categories in total, listed below.
Angling Times has teamed up with the sport’s biggest website’s - representing over half a million UK fishermen – for the National Angling Awards. The awards will be revealed in Angling Times Christmas Special issue on Tuesday, December 13 – a bumper edition featuring two free gifts.
AT editor Richard Lee said: “By working with established websites we are able to unite fishing and give the whole sport the chance to voice their opinions. The results of these awards will carry real significance with the questions placed in front of over half a million fishing fanatics. It is a project we hope to nurture and grow into an annual project.”
Anglers can vote for whichever name, product or event they want – however, a short-list of leading contenders has be drawn up to assist with the voting process.
Voting will take place through Angling Times; here on www.gofishing.co.uk/nationalawards; and with our partners at
www.fishingmagic.com;
www.maggotdrowning.com;
www.anglersnet.co.uk
Voting takes only seconds and closes at midnight on December 4th – so have your say NOW!
Full category list:
Greatest Angler Ever
Angler of the Year 2011
Team of the Year
Stillwater of the Year
River of the Year
Innovation of the Year
Pole of the Year 2011 (-£500)
Pole of the Year 2011 (£501-£1000)
Flagship Pole of the Year
Float Reel of the Year 2011
Feeder Reel of the Year 2011
Carp Reel of the Year 2011
Float Rod of the Year 2011
Feeder Rod of the Year 2011
Carp Rod of the Year 2011
Bait of the Year 2011
Catch of the Year 2011
Huge perch hauls dominating at top commercial
A venue that has built a solid reputation as one of the best carp commercials in the north has shocked match anglers across the country by producing 80lb plus hauls of perch!
The venue has produced some of the biggest weights the area has ever seen but the mirrors and commons have taken a backseat since the cold snap hit the nation, with perch now featuring heavily in winning bags.
“If you get your tactics right and are willing to ring the changes regularly, you can put a huge weight of perch together. You’ll catch plenty around the 1lb mark, a few 2lb fish and there is a good chance of a 3lb plus monster,” explained one local insider.
For more details on the complex and tactics required to succeed, pick up a copy of next week’s Angling Times, on the shelves from Tuesday November 29.
Rare fifty caught by Neil Edge
This impressive 51lb 4oz mirror from CEMEX Angling’s Rockford Lake in Hampshire has been caught for only the fifth time in 12 years by Neil Edge.
The Sonubaits consultant decided to set up in a swim that had been neglected by other anglers for the last couple of weeks and which allowed him to fish towards a central band of weed where the lake’s carp had been held up in for the majority of the year.
All of his rods were cast towards the corner of a large weed bed at 70yds range which he baited with a mixture Sonubaits prototype boilies, particles and Tiger Fish pellets. Over the top of this he offered a Refresha pop-up on a short chod rig.
“The fishing was relatively slow to begin with, apart from the relentless bream and tench that couldn’t resist my bait,” Neil said. “Because of the great weather conditions I knew the carp would be well up for a feed, so on the last night of my session I put out another 6kg of spod mix.”
This certainly did the trick, because at 5am in the morning his alarm burst into life as the line was ripped off his spool.
“It headed straight towards the weed bed and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Everything went solid and I thought the fish had shed the hook. I applied steady pressure and after 10 minutes a large ball of weed the size of a pool table starting moving towards me. As the weed bed got within a few yards of the bank, I caught a glimpse of a carp’s tail. I desperately clambered into the water and slid the net under the whole lot. When I peeled back the mesh, and removed the weed I was greeted by a large, dark mirror. I was shocked, and absolutely over the moon, when the fish tipped my scales to 51lb 4oz.”
FREE shot offer in Angling Times this week
Grab a copy of Angling Times this week and get your hands on a seven-size shot dispenser completely FREE!
All you need to pay is the £2.99 p&p cost and the dispenser is all yours, and worth £8.95!
Angling Times has teamed up with Dinsmores to offer all it’s readers the chance to get their hands on a giant shot dispenser, covering all your float fishing needs.
For just £2.99 postage and packaging, Angling Times will send you a free bumper box covering sizes SSG, AAA, BB, No.1, No.4, No.6 and No.8.
Angling Times editor Rich Lee said ‘’This is great offer as Dinsmores is a leader in shot design. Having seen their machinery first hand, I can say I’m proud that fishing still has a British manufacturing base.’’
To claim your bumper dispenser of Super Soft Shot worth £8.95 make sure you pick up a copy of this week’s paper!
Offer is limited to the first 2000 people so make sure you are quick!
Closing date is December 6th.
Pensioner makes mile round trip by foot to win Thames match
Pensioner George Clark endured a mile round trip by foot to get to his peg during the latest event on the River Thames and was rewarded for his efforts with three chub to 5lb 8oz that helped him bag the win.
The Slough-based 76-year-old was able to select his own swim during the rover match at Clifton Hampden but rather than pick the spot closest to his car, he trekked well down river to a well-known hotspot.
By using simple maggot feeder tactics he was able to fool a brace of 4lb 8oz fish alongside the lump and a few bits that secured a table topping total of 14lb 11oz.
Chod rig fools 34lb 10oz for Rich Wilby
Rich Wilby returned to a Suffolk club water which he hadn’t fished for over 14 years and landed this cracking 34lb 10oz mirror known as the Piglet.
The Norfolk-based fishery manager caught the fish during a quick six hour day session on the 12 acre venue using a Nash Monster Squid pop-up on a chod rig fished over 2kg of 15mm and 20mm freebies.
He said: “After not fishing the lake for so long it was a nice surprise to catch one of the top fish in the lake so quickly.”
