Cardiff Dock common

A FORMER shipping dock just a stone’s throw from the Bristol Channel is the surprise home of this 34lb 8oz common.

The unusual venue on the outskirts of Cardiff’s busy city centre was selected by Darren Charman as his winter venue, but he banked the biggie within weeks of getting started.

The 32-year-old Nash fieldtester had four fish in four overnight sessions, culminating in what is believed to be the lake’s biggest resident in the first week of November.

He said: “My plan was to fish through the winter and before I started I knew this was the fish I wanted to catch.

“I went for a walk around when I was still planning my trips and because it’s so close to the sea it’s normally got a fair chop on the water, but it suddenly calmed right down and I could see lots of figures that were definitely carp.”

Having found a silty area in deep water in the centre of the lake Darren baited with Nash Monster Squid boilies and lost a good fish on his first night.

 A 17lb common did arrive on that first session and two mid-twenties followed before the big common turned up.

“I knew I’d hooked a good fish — I said to my mate it felt like a sand bag,” said Darren. “It wasn’t a spectacular fight, but I was absolutely buzzing when I got it in.”

Darren fished 20mm Monster Squid bottom baits with two-bait stringers on heavy leads to Nash Diffusion leaders.

The Cardiff rod added: “It’s proper urban fishing and you can’t really relax while you’re down there, but I’ve also fished Roath Park Lake in Cardiff and I had more problems there.”