52lb 2oz mirror tops 'session of a lifetime'
Shaun Gilbert smashed his personal best by over 34lb when he landed this 52lb 2oz mirror from Elphick Fisheries North Lake.
The 24-year-old was woken by a series of single bleeps on his alarm just after first light and thought he hooked into the venue’s only bream. “As soon as I lifted in to it I knew it wasn’t a slab and it was another 20 minutes before I even saw the fish. It took half an hour in total to get it in the net, at which point my mate told me it was the Big Girl. The next day I landed carp of 35lb 8oz, 23lb 5oz and 18lb, making it by far the best session of my life.”
All of his fish were taken on Mainline Cell boilies tipped with a piece of artificial corn.
Record blue shark caught
This mammoth blue shark could have tipped the scales at nearly 250lb, smashing the British record in the process.
But Bob Pollard decided to release the monster specimen rather than kill it, meaning it can never be claimed.
Length and girth calculations put the shark at 248lb, well above both the long-standing 218lb British boat-caught best and the 222lb blue shark taken by Wayne Little in 2010 which was also returned alive, but the 43-year-old builder had no intention of taking the fish back to shore to be weighed.
Bob, who snared the predator while aboard the vessel Bite Adventures, out of Penzance in Cornwall, said: “There’s no way I’d murder that fish. A British record sounds nice but I wouldn’t kill a fish for it.”
The Shark Club of Great Britain member, who had a 118lb blue shark earlier this year, was out with experienced captain Chippy Chapman and a group of other anglers.
“It was a fair day out, that’s for sure,” laughed Bob.
“It didn’t really sink in at first, I just thought ‘that’s a big shark’ but when Chippy shook my hand immediately and said it was a 200lb’er I just couldn’t believe it.
“It finally hit home on the way back in when we were looking at the photos, which don’t really do it as much justice as actually seeing the beast. It’s difficult to comprehend how fat the thing was - it was so out of proportion.”
The shark, which measured 98 inches long and 45 inches around the middle, took a mackerel flapper 30ft off the bottom in 250ft of water.
Bob said: “When the reel clicked it was a long way from the boat. There’s 300yds of braid, plus backing, on the reel and after its first run I could see the knot. It was probably a good half an hour before I got it in. It put a fair old bend in the rod and I was strumming the braid like a guitar at times.”
Trevor Cozens, who photographed the capture, said: “It was an incredible fish. My personal view is that it seems a madness you have to kill a fish to claim it. You don’t in coarse fishing, as long as you’ve weighed it and got the correct witnesses. I accept there are a lot of issues with weighing a fish on a boat but maybe recording length and girth is the way forward.”
Woodland View match raises £11k for charity
A highly respected charity is £11,000 better off thanks to the efforts of a group of anglers during a recent event at a top commercial complex.
House building firm Barratt West Midlands arranged the competition at Droitwich’s Woodland View Fishery to raise funds for the Acorn’s Children Hospice and over 50 fishermen turned up to help the cause.
Several contractors of the business also made generous donations and it Advanced Cleaning’s George Reynolds that dominated on the fishing front, taking 135lb 7oz to top the table.
Paul Garner Facebook Competition
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. THE LUCKYS WINNERS ARE: JOHN AUSTWICK FROM BOLTON MICHAEL TOWNSEND FROM DONCASTER KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED FOR MORE GREAT COMPETITIONS COMING UP IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS
Following their groundbreaking series in Improve Your Coarse Fishing that has been running for the last three years (and counting!) Paul and Stuart are set to launch the book Underwater Angling.
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Fishery fined £35K for having invasive species
The owners of a Devon fishery have been ordered to pay nearly £35,000 in fines and costs as part of an Environment Agency crackdown on invasive species.
Checks at Clawford Fishery revealed wels catfish and topmouth gudgeon in several of the 17 lakes on the popular holiday and day-ticket complex which the proprietors did not have a licence for, Barnstable magistrates were told. The owners pleaded guilty.
A £170,000 clean-up operation, funded by rod licence sales money, was launched to remove both species. During the procedure native fish stocks were rescued and held in quarantine while an organic piscicide – a chemical poisonous to fish - was applied to eradicate the invasive species.
Although licences for keeping wels catfish are regularly issued to fully enclosed stillwaters, they posed at risk at Clawford because the lakes flowed into the River Claw which is connected to the River Tamar.
The presence of both the catfish and topmouth gudgeon were seen as direct threat to the waterway’s valuable salmon stocks.
Although only 3 – 4 inches long, the topmouth gudgeon is one of the highest risk species in Europe and consequently is not permitted in any waters. Wels catfish are Europe’s largest freshwater fish and can be a voracious predator.
“Invasive non-native fish pose serious risks to our native species and habitats and are incredibly costly to the angling industry. The Environment Agency is working hard with fishery owners to prevent their spread and where high risk invasive fish are stocked illegally we will take appropriate action to ensure they are contained and removed,” said Matt Brazier of the EA.
The owner of Celtic Lakes Resort in Ceredigion has also been fined a total of £3,300 after being found guilty of keeping sturgeon without a licence.
An investigation was launched after Environment Agency Wales staff became suspicious following a magazine article which suggested that the species were in the lake.
Fishery manager, John Carney, claimed that he kept the fish as pets, but was found guilty by Aberystwyth magistrates.
PB 50lb 12oz common from Essex syndicate
Eddie Marsh broke both his personal best and the lake record with this 50lb 12oz common caught during a four day session on an Essex syndicate water.
The 47-year-old operations manager had snapped the top section of one of his rods while casting out so had to improvise and use his marker rod instead.
He then cast a CarpBait UK The Nail boilie hookbait to a gravel shelf 60 yards from the bank and baited the feature with just 20 freebies.
Korda Facebook Competition
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
THE LUCKYS WINNERS ARE:
SARAH HILL FROM WEST MIDLANDS
CARL COBBETT FROM NORFOLK
CHRIS HOUSTON FROM GLASGOW
IAN WATSON FROM CAMBRIDGESHIRE
HARRY VALE FROM ESSEX
KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED FOR MORE GREAT COMPETITIONS COMING UP IN THE NEXT FEW WEEK
This weekend we have teamed up with tackle giant Korda to give five lucky winners a set of Korda's new pop-up imitation corn. This is the first release in the Korda Fake Food range which is sure to be a hit with carp and specialist anglers.
For your chance of getting your hand on this fantastic prizes simply email the answer to the following question to competitions@korda.co.uk along with your name and address – name one flavour in the new Fake Food range
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Bradshaw Fisheries reveal half price ticket offer
A popular commercial fishery has revealed it is set to slash day ticket prices in half for one day only.
Bosses at Lancashire’s Bradshaw Hall Fisheries will implement the generous offer this Saturday (October 6) to celebrate achieving 1000 ‘likes’ on its Facebook page.
Anyone mentioning Facebook to the bailiff on the day will be given the discount when purchasing their permit. For more details visit www.bradshawhallfisheries.co.uk
Short session barbel success
Fishing short evening sessions has proved successful for Jimi Loten so far this autumn and he has landed a string of barbel from the River Lodden topped by this 14lb 3oz specimen.
The 13-year-old schoolboy targeted a weedy stretch of the waterway controlled by Farnham Angling Society and fooled the fish, which was 2lb short of his personal best for the species of 16lb 4oz, with a 16mm Berkley Tuna Spice boilie wrapped in paste.
He said: “The fish put up a really good scrap and I had to actually push the weed away with landing net pole to get the fish close enough to net.”
Jimi mounted his hookbait on a size 12 Gardner Mugga hook and a 12lb mono hooklink.
David Preston bags Single Scale at 53lb
Just a week after banking a 44lb 10oz mirror from the ultra-tricky Ashmead Carp Syndicate, David Preston has banked the lake’s largest resident known as Single Scale at 53lb.
The Preston Innovations boss stuck with scaled-down tackle approach and after seeing a large fish show at close range he cast out a 10mm Avid High Lite hookbait on a simple pop-up rig tied with a Captive coated braid hooklink and a prototype hook.
“The carp are extremely cagey in the lake so I used backleads to keep my line pinned down,” said David. “This did the trick and it wasn’t long before my alarm screamed into life. Ashmead is made up of narrow channels, spits and small bays, so the fight was an experience to say the least. Following a lengthy scrap and a few last-minute lunges, I eventually bundled the mirror into the net.”
55lb 8oz mirror from The Avenue
Targeting a quiet bay of RH Fisheries’ The Avenue in Shropshire paid off for Brian Dunlop when he landed this 55lb 8oz mirror.
It was the second time this year which the Birmingham-based rod had landed the sought after fish after catching it at a spawned out weight of 45lb 8oz a couple of months ago.
Fishing to the edge of a small island at 25 yards range he used a Pyramid Baits PP60 boilie hookbait over a light scattering of freebies and received the all-important bite on the final afternoon of his 48 hour session.
Korum Fishing Made Easy DVD
Korum Tackle’s new two part DVD is now available for FREE from all Korum stockists.
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Their team of angling consultants personify this ethos, and what better way to explain the ways they catch fish than with the brand's latest media offering, the 'Fishing Made Easy' DVD.
These are available FREE through Korum stockists, but for those of you who just cannot wait to see the DVD, you can watch it online at www.korum.co.uk/DVD_Archive.php
In Part 1, join Dai Gribble and Nigel Botherway on the gorgeous River Wye, as they show you how easy it can be to catch chub and barbel from a rising river. They reveal all their inside knowledge on reading large rivers, and what tactics work best when chasing big fish.
In Part 2, meanwhile, it's non-stop action with Chris Ponsford and Duncan Charman, who reveal their first class approach for carp and silver fish from stillwaters. With top advice on fishing the Method feeder from Chris and ingenious anti-tangle rigs from Duncan, it's a thoroughly enjoyable watch with loads of fish and loads of tactical fishing tips.
Join Team Korum as they reveal all the latest approaches and modern fishing tactics in the Fishing Made Easy DVD. Designed to improve your coarse fishing with invaluable tips and advice from some of the country's best all-round anglers.
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The Turtle caught at 54lb 4oz
After losing the huge mirror known as The Turtle in April, Glenn Beardsall finally set the record straight when he banked it at a weight of 54lb 4oz from Wellington Country Park in Berkshire.
Setting up on the back of a westerly wind in a swim which he hadn’t fished for over a year, the Buckinghamshire-based RAF employee saw a few fish show and following a quick lead around decided to fish over an area of light weed at 100 yards range.
“The rods were all measured out, clipped-up and deposited out in the lake - one to the left and two to an area on the right,” he said. “There were no more shows during the rest of the day, so just before dark I baited up with about a kilo of chopped boilies went over two rods and 50 whole baits over the other.”
The night passed without event, but at 10am the next morning his left-hand-rod burst in to life resulting in a 28lb 6oz common.
Four hours later he received another take and his rod bent double as the fish tried to find sanctuary in the weed. “I managed to keep the fish moving, and except for a few anxious moments when some weed got jammed in the tip ring and I had to put the rod down to clear it, the fight went well,” said Glenn.
“I got a few of the other lads round to do the weighing as I was too nervous to look. They read out a weight of 54lb 4oz and confirmed that it was the Turtle. The capture was all the sweeter because I’d lost him in early April due to a hookpull for absolutely no reason. It also eased a few minds as he’d not been on the bank since last August when he weighed 52lb 2oz,” he added.
Glenn rounded the session off with a 35lb 10oz mirror using Mainline Baits New Grange hookbaits on size 6 Fox Arma Point SR hooks and Coretex hooklinks.
Specimen rudd boom
The unprecedented boom in catches of specimen rudd has continued full steam ahead, with Gareth Goldson taking one of the biggest ever hauls of the species in the form of 17 fish over 2lb to a best of 2lb 12oz.
The experienced all-rounder from Norfolk, who has already hit the headlines this season by catching eels to 7lb 4oz and roach to over 3lb, took his catch from a Fenland river using a combination of bread flake and crust hookbaits.
Gareth is no stranger to specimen-sized rudd – having taken them to over 3lb in the past – but the 30-year-old revealed how having access to a boat has seen his catch returns soar this season.
“I’ve spent so much time fishing for Fen rudd in recent seasons that I’ve become friendly with some of the narrowboat owners. One of them now lets me borrow a small boat, which makes finding the shoals of large rudd so much easier,” said Gareth, who landed all his fish using 4lb line and a size 12 hook.
“Rudd are a very greedy fish and location is the hardest task. Once you’ve found them, they’re not tackle shy at all. If you get a few competing for food, they can be almost suicidal! On this trip I started catching them on large freelined lumps of breadflake. Once I’d had a few from the shoal and they began to get spooky, I changed to slow-sinking breadflake under a small float to keep the bites coming,” he added.
Gareth’s haul is the latest in a long line of big rudd catches to come from the East Anglian region this season. He believes there are a number of reasons behind the apparent ‘big rudd bonanza’.
“Fish of this size have always been in the Rivers Cam, Lark and Ouse, as well as the drains and lodes, but I think the extra rainfall we’ve had this year has spread them out a bit more. Added to that, more specimen anglers are fishing for them than ever before, so more are getting caught,” he said.
Dr Paul Garner specialises in fish behaviour, and while agreeing with Gareth’s sentiments, he also believes that other factors have come into play.
He told AT: “Good rudd normally means there’s plenty of zoo plankton and terrestrial insects around. The drains and rivers of East Anglia are also slow-moving, meaning nutrients and plankton don’t get flushed out quickly, and they also offer good water clarity and quality – other prerequisites for rudd to flourish and feed well.”
“I think the Environment Agency should study rudd in greater detail, because they seem to be declining across most of the country, yet there’s a huge stronghold in East Anglia.”
Change of fortunes produce 43lb 8oz mirror
Ted Bryan’s four day session on a southern stillwater didn’t start brilliantly with him losing two big carp. But his fortunes soon changed and he ended up putting eight fish on the bank – the highlight being this 43lb 8oz mirror.
The Sydenham-based specimen hunter moved swims to get a better casting angle towards a weed bed where he’d seen numerous fish showing.
Using Nash IC1 pop-ups in conjunction with PVA bags of chopped boilies and rock salt crystals he landed six twenties and a 32lb 4oz mirror before receiving a take from the biggest of the bunch while packing his gear away at the end of trip.
Swim Tackle Facebook Competition
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Plans for freeze on commercial sea fishing slammed
Controversial plans by a think tank to freeze commercial sea fishing in Europe for five years to allow fish stocks to return to sustainable levels have been slammed by industry experts.
The London-based New Economics Foundation argue in its report, No Catch Investment, that the suspension would generate billions of pounds in profits by 2023 and that private investment of £9.16bn would compensate fishermen and maintain boats.
It looked at 51 out of 150 commercial fish species, including hake, mackerel, whiting and Icelandic cod. Most, it said, could be restored to sustainable levels within five years, with some varieties such as certain mackerel and herring needing less than a year. However, some stocks of cod and halibut would take at least nine years to replenish, the report found.
The chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO), Barry Deas, has stated that stocks are already improving and the idea made no sense.
“On the whole, we are already moving towards maximum sustainable yields so what is the point in spending these huge amounts of money? A freeze on fishing would result in a degeneration of infrastructure and a loss of markets,” he added.
17lb 4oz bream caught on float gear
Is this a picture of the biggest bream ever landed on a float fishing set-up?
That’s the question being asked this week after Grant Dunn slipped his net under a massive 17lb 4oz specimen from a crystal-clear gravel pit in Derbyshire.
It’s only the second bream that he has ever caught from the ultra-tough stillwater in more than 20 years of targeting it, and fell to a lobworm hookbait presented under a leger float a few rod lengths out over a bed of pellets and chopped worm.
Grant, who lives in Swadlincote, banked the new personal best on his only bite of the session, and beat it with the help of 6lb mainline tied straight through to a size 6 hook. The capture caps a successful spell for the all-rounder, who landed a slightly smaller bream weighing 16lb from the same venue just a few weeks ago.
“I’ve fished this venue on and off for two decades or more and, until recently, I’d only really caught a few big carp, eels and other bits and pieces. I’ve certainly suffered more blank sessions than I care to remember, so you can imagine how much this bream means to me,” Grant told Angling Times.
“The fish in the pit don’t see much in the way of boilies and other high-protein baits, so I decided to go back to basics and use a leger float with a light bomb attached, then fed worms and maggots over the top.”
“It seemed to really did the trick, so now that I’ve found the winning method I’m going to persevere with it. A few weeks ago when I landed the ‘sixteen’ I honestly thought that I’d never catch a bigger bream, but now that I’ve upped my pb to 17lb 4oz, it’s not ridiculous to start thinking that next time I could up that figure again by another couple of pounds. I’m sure fish of that stamp are in the pit,” he added.
Bonus carp wins Trent match
One fish can send a match angler from bottom of the pile to top of the pack as Roly Moses found out when he banked a winning 14lb carp during the latest event on the River Trent.
The Brigg AC man was struggling to attract bites from his peg at South Clifton, but he soon overtook his rivals when the big common fell for a worm hookbait presented on the feeder.
Several small roach and perch were added to give him a 15lb 13oz total which was more than enough to push Dave Ashmore’s 9lb 6oz mixed haul into second place.
Third forty in three months
After spotting a couple of big carp cruising along the margins of a southern stillwater, Jack Price managed to catch this stunning 40lb 7oz mirror off the surface.
Before casting out his trimmed-down pop-up hookbait he catapulted out a handful of Chum Mixers and it wasn’t long before the fish were confidently slurping them down.
He said: “When I spotted the fish I quickly sprinted to my car and grabbed my floater rod. This is my third forty in the last three months and my second off the surface.”
