Chod rig fools 44lb 3oz common
This impressive common had evaded capture for over a year until Simon Bloys recently caught it at a weight of 44lb 3oz from a low-stock Northants syndicate water.
After spotting signs of fish activity at 40yds range, the local 48-year-old general manager introduced around 20 CC Moore N-Gage XP boilies and then cast matching pop-up hookbaits on chod rigs over the top.
“The take came the next morning and even though I was fishing with a tight clutch the fish was stripping line with ease,” he said. “It took me through numerous weedbeds but after nearly half an hour I gained the upper hand and guided it in to the net.”
Simon tied his rigs with Korda Mouthtrap and Kaptor Choddy hooks.
Eight fish haul topped with 41lb 10oz common
Searing toothache did nothing to dampen Mike Jones’ resolve as he fished through the pain to bank eight carp from the Carp Society’s Farriers Lake – the highlight being this 41lb 10oz common.
Starting his session the day after the extraction of three teeth, the Pontypridd rod was still struggling with a painful wisdom tooth and such was his desire to stay at the venue in prime weather conditions he was halfway through pulling out the tooth himself with a pair of pliers when he had a run from a 28lb 4oz carp.
“I’d had the teeth out the day before and I wasn’t going to go but the conditions were perfect, the pressure was dropping all the time and the fish were fizzing,” said the 43-year-old.
The angling coach was able to get back to his dentist after the three-night session, which also included commons of 32lb and 32lb 9oz.
He said: “I needed some stitches and my mouth clearing up, but there was no lasting damage so it was all worth it.”
Mike, who has now had 25 thirties from Farriers since June, fed 8kg of Nash Monster Squid boilies and 3kg of hemp.
Rigs were snowman presentations on long lengths of 20lb Nash Missing Link, 3oz leads and size-eight Nash Fang hooks.
Woldview hauling
Andy McHale has been hauling at Lincolnshire’s Woldview syndicate with a run of fish topped by a mirror known as Floppy Tail at 40lb 2oz.
The 41-year-old had memorable back-to-back weekend sessions on the tricky Lincolnshire venue, banking a total of 14 fish.
Aside from Floppy Tail, the lake’s largest resident, Andy also snared The Beast at 34lb 4oz, Midnight at 29lb 15oz and The Peach at 29lb 2oz.
He said: “Woldview is quite a tricky water and to have 10 to 15 fish in a season is good going but I managed 14 in two weekends.”
The self-employed gas fitter banked the big mirror and seven other carp during the first weekend session and still had fish showing over his spots as he packed up to make the 90-minute journey home.
Andy then returned on the Wednesday and topped up the swim with 4kg of boilies before returning with his rods at the weekend.
This determination paid off with six fish in the second session at 17lb 4oz, 19lb 2oz, 19lb 8oz, 21lb, 23lb and The Beast at 34lb 4oz.
All fish fell to CC Moore Live System pop-ups fished on chod rigs in light weed over a spread of bottom baits.
“This is my second season on Woldview and I’ve had a good couple of years,” said Andy, who is now concentrating his efforts on a Cambridgeshire water.
“I switched my bait over to CC Moore’s Live System in May and haven’t looked back, I’ve literally not blanked since, it’s a brilliant bait.”
Deep water thirties brace
THIS 36lb 14oz common carp was the highlight of a brace of thirties caught by Lewis Porter during a recent session on Bundy’s Pit in Cambridgeshire.
The Peterborough-based Fox International media manager targeted a hard clay patch in 36ft of water at 30 yards range and also helped himself to a second common of 33lb.
Both fish were taken on Mainline Baits Milky Toffee pop-ups fished over 5kg of mixed Cell and Fusion boilies on hinged stiff rigs tied with 25lb Fox Coretex boom sections, Rigidity pop-up sections attached to size 5 SR hooks.
Essex Manor's Stella out at 51lb
DAN Taylor caught his first ever carp over the magical 50lb barrier in the form of this 51lb mirror known as Stella from the Essex Manor syndicate.
Targeting a patch of silt just 20 yards from the bank, the Kent-based rod baited the feature with four kilos of Tails Up Pro Fish 10mm and 18mm boilies before positioning a matching flavoured white pop-up over the top.
He said: “On first light my right-hand rod went in to melt down and as soon as I picked it up I knew something special was on the other end. After a slow, heavy fight lasting 15 minutes I slipped the net under a fish of a lifetime.”
Dan beat his new personal best with a size 7 Atomic Tackle Grabba hook attached to a 25lb Jel-E-Wyre hooklink and a 2oz lead on a safety clip system.
34lb Thames mirror landed
A flooded Thames produced this impressive 34lb mirror to Ash Geden.
The 22-year-old Windsor rod targeted a deep silty part of a slack area to bank the new river personal best.
Despite cold conditions, with frost on the unhooking mat at dawn, Ash’s heavy pre-baiting of Sticky Baits XS boilies and mixed particles paid off.
The fish had clearly taken a liking to the feast, excreting samples of the bait all over the mat.
Ash used a hinged stiff link rig incorporating a size-five ESP Stiff Rigger attached to 20lb Korda Mouth Trap hooklink with an eight inch boom section.
Everything was kept pinned down by 3ft of ESP leadcore attached to a 4oz flat pear lead fished helicopter style.
The hookbait was a 16mm Sticky Baits Buchu Berry pop-up and the mirror was tamed on 18lb ESP Syncro XT mainline, an ESP 3lb test curve Sniper rod and a Daiwa Emcast reel.
Peck on fire
Prolific carp catcher Darrell Peck has been getting among the bigger residents of a southern gravel pit and during a three night session on the 50-acre venue landed this 40lb 4oz mirror.
A fish of 35lb also graced the net of the Korda employee who set up in a swim where he had taken carp of 32lb and 27lb the previous week.
Convinced the lake’s fish spent the majority of their out in the middle of the water, Darrell had been concentrating his efforts around the central swims on the venue.
Over the course of the session he introduced 6kg of Mainline Baits new Hybrid bait and fished 10mm Milky Toffee pop-ups over the top. These were mounted on hinged-stiff rigs tied with 20lb Korda N-Trap and 20lb Mouthtrap along with size 8 Choddy hooks.
To achieve the distance required to get close to where the fish were holed up he used 4oz distance leads in conjunction with a 20lb braid mainline and a 50lb Armakord shock leader.
Attention to detail results in 43lb 4oz mirror
ONE thing that few anglers take into consideration when targeting specimen carp is their line lay. But by paying close attention to details such as this can make all the difference as Rob Willingham proved with this 43lb 4oz mirror from Cleverley Top Lake.
The Korda employee arrived at the Essex venue on a Friday evening, and with strong winds and torrential rain lashing down he wasted no time getting his rods out in an area of the lake where he knew the fish had been residing over the last few days. But despite fish crashing out in front of him during the night, his bobbins had remained motionless by the morning.
“The day turned out to be bright and sunny, and with a few fish cruising near the surface I cast out a couple of zigs, but these failed to produce anything,” Rob told Angling Times.
“There was a lot of weed in front of the swim which was making things very awkward for me to get my lines down and into position. To solve this I spent an hour raking the area so that I could a better line lay.”
With everything sorted he got his rods back out for the night and spread a scattering of boilies over his hookbaits.
“It was a clear, starry night unlike the previous one, and I was in bed by 9:30pm. I awoke to a slow, forceful take at around 4:25am, and lifted into what was a powerful specimen. I was immediately forced to give line slowly as it surged left in the deeper water.
“Applying steady pressure I eventually began to retrieve some line and got her within close quarters. There was only one band of weed in front of me that I hadn’t cleared and guess what happened? She went straight into it and wedged herself solid.
“It was only a few yards off the bank and I knew it was just shallow enough for me to climb into the waders and go after her, which I duly did. I managed to get the rod directly above the fish and within a couple of minutes she popped up to the surface.
“It was then panic stations as she bolted through my other two lines leaving me in a right mess. I managed to sort this out with a little nip one pearl one and soon enough she was engulfed in the mesh. It was her, I couldn’t believe it, Geezers weighing 43lb 4oz. I got some very memorable pictures and would like to thank all my mates that shared the occasion with me.”
Rob put his faith in his favourite hinged stiff rig presentation which was tied with an Amnesia boom section and 15lb Mouthtrap pop-up section attached to a size 8 Korda Choddy hook.
St Ives Shallow Pit record broken
Steve Bull broke the St Ives Lake Shallow Lagoon record with this chunky 47lb 15oz mirror.
It was the first time the 38-year-old St Neots-based rod had fished the Cambridgeshire venue since the beginning of summer and was rewarded with his second forty of the year which broke his old personal best by 2lb.
After doing a lap of the lake on arrival he spotted a group of carp showing around an island.
“My plan was to try and intercept the fish as they moved away from the feature” said Steve. “I knew there was bar which came off the island at about 40 yards, so I cast just over the back of it in to an area of silt.
“Nothing happened during the night, but in the early hours of the morning I was woken by a slow and steady take. As I lifted into it the fish steamed off and I could tell it was one of the lake’s bigger carp. It then weeded me up, but by keeping the pressure on I soon had the whole lot coming towards me. My mate helped me net it, and on the bank, once we’d torn away all the weed, we were met by the sight of the lake’s most sought after resident – Colin.”
Steve used a Denham Bait Innovation The Element hookbait over half a kilo of matching boilies and prototype pellets.
This was mounted on a Nash Fang Twister hook and a Korda Hybrid coated braid hooklink. A 2oz lead and 15lb Korda SUBline mainline completed his setup.
Brace of 40lb commons
A brace of 40lb commons topped an incredible session that also featured four thirties for Darren Gleave.
The Manchester rod visited St John’s on the Richworth Linear complex in Oxfordshire last week and came away 72 hours later with a huge tally of specimens.
Among the haul was the Box Common at 42lb 7oz and, just three hours later, the Big Common at 44lb 12oz.
Providing back up were four thirties to 33lb, 11 twenties and 11 doubles.
The 39-year-old Trafford Angling Supplies employee said: “It was my best-ever session, without a doubt.
“I’ve had some good sessions in France but this has beaten the lot of them.”
Four of the fish fell to zig rigs while the other 24 carp, including the monster commons, tripped up on bottom-bait combi rigs and Nash Manchester Specials boilies.
“I got the peg I wanted to get on and there were quite a lot of fish showing, but they seemed to be the smaller ones,” said Darren.
“I put a bed of boilies out at about 100 yards and then topped it up with a couple of spods after every fish. In all I used about 6kg of boilies.”
Both commons fell on Monday afternoon and beat Darren’s previous personal best of 35lb 12oz.“
Both of the fish weeded me up and I had to put the rod down for 15 to 20 minutes, and like most of the fish they didn’t really fight until they were in the margins.
“I certainly didn’t realise how big the biggest one was until I got it on the mat.”
The Brute landed at 51lb
AN impromptu change of swims paid off in style for Billy Shackleford when he landed the most sought after resident of a southern club water weighing a massive 51lb.
The venue regular moved in to a freshly vacated swim despite being unsure on whether to fish the night or not.
His eventual decision to stay on proved to be a wise one, because the following morning he received the all-important bite from the specimen mirror known as The Brute.
His setup included an Oxford Carp Bait MC Nut boilie with an ESP Strip Teaze Two Tone hooklink and Syncro XT mainline.
Two carp for 84lb from low-stock southern pit
Teenager Calum Kletta has been in fine form on a tough southern syndicate water, banking a cracking brace of mirrors for more than 84lb.
The 19-year-old Hampshire-based rod had three fish in as many nights, having caught just four carp from the venue in the whole of the previous year.
The trio was topped by a 38lb 10z mirror and a resident known as The Lord at 45lb 12oz. A 27lb mirror completed a successful weekend’s angling.
Student Calum said: “I’ve been fishing quite a large spread of boilies over a spot at about 150 yards, about 2kg to 3kg, and topping up after every fish.”
All the fish fell to 15mm white CC Moore’s NS1 baits fished snowman style over a spread of the bait firm’s Odyssey XXX boilies.
He added: “I’ve been putting quite a bit of bait on this spot fairly regularly. I think the fish have started to have their winter feed up and I’ve found an area they like to visit and a bait they feel confident feeding on.”
With about 120 fish in roughly 60 acres, any capture is a result but young Calum still has his eye on banking a few more.
He said: “Last year I had the Big Leather at 45lb and an unnamed fish at 49lb 8oz, which is my personal best, but there’s another one I would love to catch called Silver Scale.
“That should be about 50lb next time it comes out.”
Is this the UK's biggest ghostie?
This huge ghost carp weighing 44lb 2oz was caught by professional angling coach, Andrew Ellis, from Lemington Lakes’ Bishops pool.
The fish has piled on over 23lb in the last eight years and is believed to be the biggest ghostie in the country.
The Gloucestershire-based rod used his own variation of a stiff-hinged rig, tied with 20lb Korda Mouthtrap and 18lb N-Trap along with a size 8 Choddy hook, to fool his new pb and a 31lb mirror.
“I am convinced that this fish will top the 50lb-barrier in the next few years,” said Andrew, who used a pop-up hookbait over 2kg of Dynamite Baits White Chocolate and Coconut boilies.
900lb Linear haul for Tom Maker
Tom Maker has once again shown why he is widely regarded as one of the most prolific carp catchers in the UK following a mind-blowing 57-carp haul from Linear Fisheries Brasenose One totalling more than 900lb.
His catch was made all the more special as he arrived on a Saturday morning, slotted into the last available swim on the lake and only fished until the following afternoon.
The highlight of the haul was a 31lb mirror with the average weight being 16lb, and incredibly all of his action came during the daytime without a single bite during the night.
After locating a clear area among the weed at 70 yards range, the Fox and Mainline consultant clipped all three of his rods up to the spot. “This is a tactic I favour when fishing for big hits of carp as it enables me to concentrate a shoal of fish in one area which keeps them feeding competitively for longer,” he explained.
“Once all three rods where out I put out 10 spods of a mix consisting of hemp, pellets and sweetcorn. Usually you have to wait an hour or two for the fish to get on the bait but on this occasion the action was pretty much instant. By Saturday evening I had landed no less than 33 carp with the biggest going 29lb 4oz as well as a few other twenties to 26lb 4oz. Very rarely did I get single takes - usually it was double, or even treble takes, and the angler next door had to help me out. After each bite I simply topped the spot up with a further three spods to keep the fish competing for food.”
As soon as darkness fell the bites dried up, but at 10am the next morning the takes started coming thick and fast again.
“Over the next six hours I went onto land a further 24 carp including two thirties to 31lb. I think at one point I had six fish in five nets and a retainer sling, comprising two doubles, a 24lb 6oz, 26lb 8oz, 30lb 6oz and 31lb. It was action like I had never experienced before on the lake and while I was playing one of the thirties my other rod screamed off and I landed the second.”
Tom kept his rigs simple with 2ft of leadcore coupled with a 4oz inline lead and a 4ins Fox Reflex braid hooklink with a size 5 Arma Point SSBP hook. Hookbait wise, he used a single grain of fake corn soaked in Hinders Betalin liquid, which instead of hair-rigging, was threaded directly on to the hook.
42lb mirror from St Ives Shallow Pit
Anglers fishing the St Ives Lakes’ Shallow Lagoon have certainly been making the most of the autumn feed up with some of the lake’s biggest residents visiting the bank.
Fishery regular Paul Rudd continued his impressive run of form on the Cambridgeshire complex with a 42lb mirror.
After baiting a small clear area 60 yards from the bank with two kilos of spodded boilies and pellets the 37-year-old had to brave a night of torrential rain before his alarm burst in to life the following morning.
“The fish charged straight in to the weed and I eventually brought a ball of weed the size of a brolly towards the net,” said the Bedfordshire-based owner of Denham Bait Innovations.
“I stood in the margins pulling the weed away and when I saw the frame of a large mirror I feared for a minute that I’d caught the lake’s biggest carp – a mirror called Colin which I’d had earlier in the year at 46lb 4oz.
"Thankfully it wasn’t a repeat capture, but one of my other target fish from the venue known as Big Head.”
Paul put his faith in one of his own Element cork ball pop-ups which he presented on a size 5 ESP D7 Raptor hook and a Sufix Stealth Skin hooklink.
Swim change produces 43lb 4oz common
Staying mobile proved to be the key to success for Charlie Walker who topped a three fish hit with this 43lb 4oz common from the Walthamstow 2 and 3 reservoirs after changing swims three times.
The Oxon-based 14-year-old landed a small 10lb common shortly after arriving and then moved to a different area of the day’s only venue and helped himself to a fish of 25lb 4oz.
A final move towards the end of the session resulted in him breaking his old personal best of 32lb 8oz with the lake’s Big Common.
“The take was more like that of a bream and it came in so easily at first that my dad even asked me if it was still on,” Charlie told Angling Times. “After plodding along the margins for a couple of minutes it went in the net on the first attempt. It was only at this point that we realised just how big it was.”
To achieve a good presentation over the silty lakebed he used a Nash Scopex Squid pop-up on a size 8 Nash Fang X hook and a combi-rig hooklink. This was cast out in conjunction with a small PVA bag of crushed boilies.
UK's biggest common caught
Margin tactics proved the downfall of the biggest common carp in Britain.
The 58lb 7oz fish, known as the Lee Jackson fish, was landed by John Warden on his first visit to Strawberry Fields in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
The 40-year-old supervisor fished just 10 yards from the bank to trick the impressive specimen within hours of setting up for a 48 hour session.
“I got the take at about 9pm on the first evening. Initially it was a screaming run and when I struck into it, it carried on stripping line from my reel,” said the Gillingham-based rod.
“When I landed it I thought it was a forty and I told my friend I thought it would go 42lb — but then I went to lift it and I knew it was something special.
“I initially weighed it at 59lb but we went down the bank and got some of the regulars to weigh it and identify it, and we settled on 58lb 7oz.
“I was just in shock.”
The fish, which is more than 3lb heavier than the famous Burghfield Common’s last recorded weight, is one of two 50lb-plus commons in Strawberry Fields.
It fell to two Mainline Cell boillies fished snowman style on a Nash Fang hook tied to an Atomic Tackle Jel-E-Wyre hooklink.
John, whose previous personal best was 52lb 4oz, scattered about 100 freebies over each rod and tamed the fish on a Nash H-Gun rod and 14lb mainline.
“I couldn’t ask for a better first session on the water and I’ll definitely be going back,” he said.
Birthday personal best
Alfie Waters had an early fortieth birthday present in the form of this personal best 35lb 8oz common from a Cambridgeshire stillwater.
The fish, his first ever UK thirty, came just before first light during a short overnight session and took the Norfolk-based RAF Tornado aircraft engineer over half an hour to land.
Lee used a single Mainline Baits Cell hookbait on a size 8 Fox SSC hook and an 8ins 15lb Coretex hooklink on a running rig over 50 freebies on clear spot at 25 yards.
“It was a fantastic start to my fortieth birthday weekend and one that I will never forget,” he said.
Swim change produces 40lb 4oz mirror
A change of swims paid dividends for Ted Bryan when he landed fish of 40lb 4oz and 38lb 10oz in a matter of minutes from a southern stillwater.
Fishing close to a large weedbed, the Syndenham-based all-rounder baited each rod with 50 Nash Bait iC1 boilies.
He then took both mirrors on 15mm glugged pop-up hookbaits mounted on size 8 Nash Fang X hooks and 20lb Missing Link hooklinks.
Prebaiting produces 39lb 11oz mirror
A week long prebaiting campaign paid off in style for Leon Stearn when he banked this 39lb 11oz mirror from the Fjords on the Cambridgeshire St Ives Lakes complex.
The local rod had been introducing Denham Bait Innovations The Element boilies to a marginal spot on the tricky low-stock venue.
He soon had the fish visiting the spot on a regular basis and managed to stalk the lake’s biggest known resident called the Round Brown.
For venue info visit: www.stiveslakes.com
