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.


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.


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.”


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.”

Rich also stars in a great video showing exactly how he gets the most from the Chod rig and how to use it correctly viewable by clicking here.


49lb 12oz pb mirror for Paul Mepham

Paul Mepham has smashed his personal best with this 49lb 12oz mirror from a southern stillwater.

After an uneventful first night fishing single hookbaits, the 32-year-old, Surrey-based angling coach decided to bait his spots with 1kg of 18mm Richworth KG1 boilies and then rested his swim until later in the day.

He then had to wait until the early hours of the morning for the all-important bite and after a 15 minute scrap he slipped the net under his prize.

It is the second forty which Paul has caught from the venue and he mounted his hookbaits tipped with a piece of artificial corn on size 8 Gardner Mugga hooks and 5ins Atomic Tackle Jel-E-Wyre hooklinks.


Wyreside Lakes venue record broken with 42lb 1oz mirror

The Wyreside Lakes venue record has been broken by Ben Poole with the capture of this 42lb 1oz mirror from Wyre Lake on the Lancashire day-ticket complex.

Targeting a silt patch next to an island at 90yds range, the Stockport-based 35-year-old hooked into the specimen known as Paw Print on the first afternoon of his 24 hour session using a 20mm Nash Monster Squid bottom bait and a 12mm pop-up on a snowman presentation over around 20 freebies.

He said: “It came in fairly easily at first before trying to get in a set of snags. I managed to keep it clear and when it rolled around 20yds out my mate recognised it as Paw Print.”

To get a good presentation over the silt, Ben used an 18ins Korda N-Trap hooklink and a size 8 Nash Fang Twister hook.


First forty of the year for Ted Bryan

Ted Bryan has caught his first forty of the year in the shape of this 40lb 10oz mirror from a Kent club water.

The fish was the best of four which the Sydenham-based specimen hunter had during his session, which also included three twenties to 28lb 12oz.

All of his carp were taken on 15mm Nash Amber Strawberry pop-ups which were hair-rigged on size 8 Nash Fang X hooks and Nash Bullet mono hooklinks over around 20 free offerings.


Korda sponsor Carp Team England

The Angling Trust is delighted to announce that it has signed a 5 year deal with Korda to sponsor Carp Team England. 

The deal, worth more than £100,000 in cash and business support will pay for England’s best carp anglers to travel wherever the World Carp Championships are held each year, along with a strong team of journalists and TV production crew.

Korda’s involvement will help produce a platform to propel international carp fishing to a new level in this country. With their expertise in delivering excellent television, internet and magazine material, along with an abundance of commercial knowledge, Carp Team England’s journey will be televised and covered heavily in the angling media. 

Ali Hamidi of Korda said: “We are delighted to work with the new unified representative body for all angling to support Carp Team England.  For years now there has been insufficient financial backing for the team, almost no media recognition and despite some good results that elusive gold team medal has not been achieved.  I believe everything goes hand in hand, if you’ve got great back office support, with a unified patriotic team, and the talent pool of anglers that we have in this country then we can all look forward to a great future with Carp Team England becoming the most successful carp team in world angling. For too long, international carp fishing has been overlooked, but with our media work and our unprecedented TV coverage, we will set new heights with this. It should act as a figure of inspiration for younger anglers, who can aspire to represent their country in their favourite hobby. Our growing relationship with the Angling Trust should also help them grow the member base to help ensure a bright future for angling in the UK. We can’t wait to set-up paths to entry into the team and get the ball rolling. This is exciting times for the sport, and Korda Carp Team England will really help in growing carp fishing not just in this country, but across Europe”.

Dick Clegg, Angling Trust’s International Events Manager, said: “This is excellent news for Carp Team England. To have such a well-respected sponsor from the carp fishing industry supporting the team, gives us a great opportunity to develop the team further and build on the previous successes.”  

The Angling Trust’s Finance & Business Manager, Stuart Sharp, who joined the Trust in August and finalised the deal with Korda over the past few weeks said: “This is a fantastic deal for Carp Team England and for angling as a whole.  Korda’s commitment to the England team and the development of the competitive side of carp fishing is clear to see. We look forward to working with Korda to maximise the value for them as a sponsor and to ensure that the team can focus on fishing, rather than fundraising to pay their way.  We are looking for sponsors for many other England teams and are eager to hear from any potential sponsors who might be interested in following the lead of Korda by backing the best carp anglers in the country.”


Brace of fifties for Nash's Jack Brown

Jack Brown has become one of an elite group of anglers who can lay claim to catching a brace of UK fifties after landing a 52lb 1oz common and a 50lb mirror from Kevin Nash’s Church Lake in Essex.

It was a case of hard work and patience paying off for the Leighton Buzzard-based angling apprentice who changed swims three times to keep on top of the fish.

The first day of his 72 hour session passed without event, and with the wind pushing into a bay on his right he decided a move was on the cards. Just as the light was fading on the second evening he saw a patch of fizzing close to an island and flicked a rig onto a clear patch just behind the feeding fish.

Shortly afterwards one of his alarms screamed into life and a mammoth 45 minute fight followed.
“The fish weeded me up solid and I had to go out in the boat to get above it and pull it free,” Jack told Angling Times. “I eventually bundled a huge pile of weed into the net, and I couldn’t actually see which fish it was. At this point I realised I’d left the oars on the bank and as there was no breeze I was stuck in the middle of the lake! I managed to shout one of the warehouse lads, Scott, who thankfully rowed out and helped me back to the bank. When we pulled back the weed I was greeted by the incredible sight of a huge common, which at 52lb 1oz beat my pb by just over 1lb.”
The next day he moved swims again to get a better line lay, and that night he completed his historic brace with a 50lb mirror.

“The fish put up another good fight but thankfully wasn’t quite as eventful as the first one. One of the other Nash lads who was with me said it looked like a decent fish while I was playing it, and I was literally speechless when the scales went round to 50lb. To have one fifty was amazing, but to have two in a session is something I could never have dreamed of.”

Both of his fish were taken on 15mm Nash White Monster Squid pop-ups over a scattering of whole and chopped Monster Squid red boilies with a few handfuls of hemp and maggots. “Using a light coloured hookbait over darker free offerings is a tactic I use a lot as it makes your hookbait stand out and the fish definitely home in on it quicker. I mounted my pop-ups on stiff-hinged rigs which are a great big fish presentation because they present the baits perfectly for the way the bigger carp feed.
Both of my fish were nailed squarely in the bottom lip and there’s no way they were coming off.”

Incredibly, at the age of 20 Jack now has three fifties to his name, and only a week earlier he landed a 40lb 8oz mirror from an Oxfordshire syndicate.



Target achieved

At the start of the year Mark Pitchers set himself the target of catching thirty UK 30lb-plus carp and he recently achieved this with a four fish haul from an Essex syndicate water which was topped by a 42lb 3oz mirror carp.

The 33-year-old Yorkshire-based fishery owner also landed fish of 37lb, 32lb 2oz and 26lb 4oz during the productive 48 hour session.

Heavy baiting tactics proved successful and he presented a snowman hookbait consisting of a Sticky Vor-tex bottom bait tipped with a 12mm Buchu Berry pop-up over 3kg of Vor-tex and Bloodworm freezer baits.

Mark fished his hookbaits on blow-back rigs tied with Fox 15lb Reflex hooklinks and size 6 Fox Kuro S4 hooks with a 3oz inline flat pear lead.




37lb 4oz Catch 22 common for Lee Nobbs

Lee Nobbs has been in a rich vein of form on Catch 22’s syndicate water, landing no less than 20 carp including eight different thirties topped by this 37lb 4oz common in the last few weeks.

The Norfolk-based venue bailiff has been targeting a silty gulley and has also landed linears of 36lb and 35lb, and commons of 35lb 1oz and 34lb.

Lee baited the feature with 2kg of Premier Baits Matrix boilies per fish, and used matching hookbaits on blow-back rigs on a running lead system.


Glugged boilies fool 43lb 4oz mirror

Kirk Temple’s rig had only been in the water for a couple of hours when it was picked up by this 43lb 4oz personal best mirror from Manor Farm Lake on the Richworth Linear Fisheries complex.

The Hull-based rod had located a firm silt patch which he baited with 3kg of mixed particles and chopped Sticky Bloodworm boilies soaked in Bloodworm Glug and Pure Krill Liquid.

He said: “When my mate and I arrived at the fishery we had a good look round and found that St John’s and Oxlease were fishing a bit slow. As such we decided to go on Manor where we’d seen a few fish showing, but I was really surprised when I had a take so quickly. I was over the moon when I realised it was one of the venue’s biggest residents known as Sticky Rib.”


Pb and lake record 45lb 2oz mirror from Richworth Linear Fisheries

Baz Lloyd managed to break not only his personal best but also the Richworth Linear Fisheries Manor Farm lake record with this 45lb 2oz mirror known as Spike.

Fishing to a firm silt patch at 110yds, the Cheshire-based 25-year-old spodded out a jar of CC Moore Intense Hemp and 5kg of chopped 15mm Odyssey XXX boilies. He then offered a snowman presentation consisting of a 15mm bottom bait and a white Northern Special pop-up over the top.

He said: “I was up at first light watching the spot like a hawk. I saw a fish show bang on the money, then at 9.30am my line pulled up tight. I was delighted when I peered over the net and saw one of the Manor’s old originals.”

Baz presented his hookbait on a 4ins, 20lb Nash Missing Link hooklink and a size 6 Korda Wide Gape hook.


New pb caught in manic five hour spell at Richworth Linear Fisheries

During a manic five hour spell Steve Nickson had four takes and landed three fish from St John’s Lake on the Richworth Linear Fisheries complex with the highlight being this pb 31lb 12oz linear.

The York-based rod told Angling Times: “I was set-up on the Point Swim which is a peg I was hoping to get. I chose to fish two rods tight to the no fishing bank on gravel areas, with one long and one closer in. The third was fished with a chod rig in a silty area around 100 yards out.

“Throughout the week I used 8kg of top quality baits from Frank Warwick, the Fruit Smoothy in different sizes of 12mm, 16mm and 16mm dumbells. I also used 15kg of aniseed particle with a couple of kilos of sweetcorn added to the mix with 2 gallon of red and white maggots and a good helping of FW Salmon Amino acid. I baited the gravel spots 3 times a day at 10am, 4pm and 10pm. My rig set up on the gravel spots consisted of 4ins Nash Gravel Missing Link hooklinks, size 8 Nash Fang Twister hooks and free running 3oz flat pear leads.

“On the short rod I used a trimmed-down Fruit Smoothy dumbbell and half a FW Fruit Juice 12mm pop-up. This was cast tight to an overhanging tree. On the long rod I opted for a 12mm FW Fruit Juice pop-up with a fake red maggot hair stop. This was cast over to the bank where I made up a solid PVA bag and placed by hand onto a hard gravel patch. The third rod was set up with a naked choddy tied with 20lb Korda Mouth Trap and a size 8 Choddy hook with a 16mm Fruit Smoothy pop- up.

“The weather was absolutely scorching the first two days with highs of 29 degrees and I couldn’t even get a bit on zigs. On Tuesday evening I took a look over my short rod and saw six carp with their heads down feeding confidently, and a big common was among them. Unfortunately, the night passed without any action. Wednesday evening was a completely different story, however. The heavens opened and I’d just got in the sleeping bag at 11pm when my left hand rod ripped off. After a frantic battle, I landed my first carp of 26lb 10oz. I soon had the rod back out with a couple of kilos of particles and boilies. At 1am the same rod went off again and after a great fight I had a long 18lb common in the net. The next take came at 4am but the fish quickly weeded me up solid. I kept tension on the line just waiting for it to pull out of the weed. After five minutes it came out, kiting to the right and stripping around 20yds of line wiping out my right hand rod in the process. I finally got it over the net and scooped up a stunning full linear which tipped the scales at 31lb 12oz! Happy days! I was over the moon with this fish as it was a new pb.

“I had one more take after that, but unfortunately it came off. Looking back at the session and things I would have done differently, I would have kept the bait going in on the spots but not put the rods in until the evening to give them a free feed. Throughout the week the lake was fishing quite slow and to my knowledge only seven fish came out including mine. I definitely think the bait I was using was a big factor to my success, and I would recommend any of the two food baits to anyone. A truly memorable session.”




Mar-Peche lake record carp for Bill Phillips

On a recent session at Mar-Peche in France, Bill Phillips broke the venue record with this huge 78lb 15oz mirror carp.

The 62-year-old Wiltshire-based retired production manager broke his pb by over 23lb with the impressive specimen, which he fooled with a brazil nut tipped with a piece of fake corn.

This was fished in a weedy bay at 40yds range on a long 3ins hair on a size 8 Korda Wide Gape hook and a 20lb Kryston Super-Silk hooklink over a bed of hemp and nuts.

The all-important bite came on the last night of his week session and after weeding him up solid he eventually netted his prize after going out in a boat.


Cassein common carp record falls!

The Cassien common carp lake record has been broken by Paul Roberts with his capture of this huge 68lb common.

It was caught by the 60-year-old from the North Arm of the 1,500 acre French venue with a Heron Baits Savoury Fish boilie and four bait stringer fished at 20yds range.

He mounted his hookbait on a stiff 6ins Amnesia hooklink attached to a size 8 Kamasan Wide Gape hook and a 5oz lead.

For the full details of Paul’s capture pick up a copy of Angling Times on sale September 6.


Massive 50lb mirror falls to balanced 10mm boilie rig

This huge 50lb 10oz mirror was the highlight of a five fish catch from Kevin Nash’s Church Pool for Bernard Anderson.

The Cheshire-based rod also landed fish of 36lb, 34lb, 33lb and 29lb during his 48 hour session on the Essex venue.

The majority of his fish were caught on balanced Nash Monster Squid hookbaits fished on KD rigs over 1kg of freebies in an area of light weed and clay next to a large weedbed in the middle of the lake.


Huge grass carp falls to big boilie approach

Grass carp don’t come much bigger or better-looking than this impressive monster taken by Julien Diconne, which pulled the scales down to more than 48lb.

It was taken by the Prologic-backed French angler as part of a mammoth haul during a four-day session at an unnamed stillwater in his home country, alongside 33 other big carp, 14 of which were ‘grassies’.

The pick of his other fish weighed just over 40lb and just under 43lb respectively.

All the fish fell to fresh home-rolled Crustacean DDBait boilies in 20mm and 26mm sizes.


Moving swims the key to success

Moving on to showing fish paid off for Tim Jackson when he banked this 48lb 11oz mirror known as Three Scales from Rockford Lake.

Fishing to a long range spot at 130yds range the 38-year-old Wiltshire-based rod baited the area with 2kg of Nash Mach 1 boilies and cast a matching pop-up over the top on a chod rig to ensure he achieved a good presentation over the weed.

His rod ripped off just after first light and after a powerful scrap during which the fish weeded him up on a couple of occasions he netted his prize.