Suffolk Water Park specimens fall to snowman setup
DAN LANKESTER got his winter campaign on Suffolk Water Park’s Specimen Lake off to a flying start, landing a trio of carp during a 48 hour session.
The highlight of the trip was a 34lb 4oz mirror which the 35-year-old gardener backed up with a common of 25lb 2oz and a small stockie of around 9lb.
All three of his fish were taken from close to an overhanging tree on the far margin at 100 yards range near a sandy plateau where he’d seen fish moving.
“On the second morning I had an occurrence on one rod - the bobbin pulled up tight but when I picked up the rod there was nothing attached,” the Ipswich-based carper told Angling Times.
“Within 10 minutes of putting it back out on the spot it screamed off and this time I successfully landed a 25lb 2oz common.”
This was followed by the smallest fish of the trip before his new personal best slipped up early in the evening. “I’ve never had a fight like it – it just kept stripping line and I just had to hold on until it tired itself out.”
Dan’s successful setup consisted of a Frank Warwick Baits Fruit Smoothie bottom bait and pop-up fished snowman style on a JRC Cocoon hooklink and a size 8 Nash Fang Twister hook.
Short session success for Luke Church
LUKE Church has enjoyed short-session success with a string of recent captures taken during the daylight hours.
The 23-year-old has banked five fish to over 30lb in just 12 hours of fishing spread across two days.
Topping the winter haul was this 33lb 10oz mirror from a venue near his home in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
Luke, who won the British Carp Angling Championship in 2010, said: “It was caught along with a 22lb 14oz mirror during an eight-hour day session at a local day-ticket fishery.
“I was fishing at around 70 yards in between a channel of two islands and used 12mm CC Moore Secret Obsession pop-ups with a small PVA mesh bag of the CC Moore Active Feast bag mix.
Luke than managed three other fish, including mirrors of 23lb 1oz and 17lb, on a four-hour afternoon session at Narborough Lakes in King’s Lynn.
He said: “I was casting across to the far bank at around 80 yards and walking round to bait up with 2mm trout pellets provided. The hookbait was an 8mm Mini Bitez from CC Moore.”
Luke’s end tackle featured an eight-inch Gardner Sly Skin hooklink in 15lb breaking strain attached to a size-10 Covert Mugga hook with 12lb GT80+ mainline.
69lb mirror tops 74 fish haul
LUKE Edwards enjoyed an action packed session at Domaine le Ribiere in France, landing no less than 74 carp topped by a 69lb mirror.
The Wolverhampton-based rod’s staggering haul also included two other sixties, weighing 64lb and 60lb, seven fifties and 15 forties.
“The sport was non-stop throughout the trip and I even had to reel in for a few hours each day just so I get some sleep,” the 31-year-old told Angling Times. “I’d spent a fair bit of money on bait and took around £500 of Mainline Baits MK1 boilies, maggots, casters, hemp, sweetcorn, maize and parti-mix with me. The more bait I put in the more fish I caught and when I slipped the net under the bigg’un I couldn’t have cared less about the cost of the bait,” he added.
Luke tackled the French stillwater with double MK1 10mm boilie hookbaits tipped with fake maggots.
These were fished blow-back style on a Fox Kuro S3 hooks and 12lb Illusion Fluorocarbon hooklinks. Illusion Fluorocarbon mainline and Captive Backleads were also used to ensure everything was pinned down and out of the way of the carp.
“The rig proved to be devastating and my hook holds were at times up to two inches back in the carp’s mouth.”
Maggots score for 38lb mirror
WARREN Broadhurst caught his first carp over the 30lb barrier and broke his personal best in the process with this 38lb mirror from The Monument in Shropshire.
Faced with a strong northerly wind and plummeting temperatures the 37-year-old from Telford hadn’t seen any fish showing so cast his rigs towards the centre of the water where he thought the carp might be holding up.
Maggots have accounted for a number of big fish from the venue in recent weeks, but to give his baits an extra kicked he coated them in a dusting of Retro Baits garlic powder the night before his session.
“On the first morning my mate had a 31lb mirror on a pop-up boilie but I decided to stick with the maggots,” Warren told Angling Times. “I kept putting a couple of Spombs of bait out every two hours and the next day I started getting a few liners which eventually turned into a screaming take.”
Warren’s winning presentation consisted of a couple of real maggots popped-up with a piece of red foam on a Gardner Talon Tip hook and a Korda IQ Super Soft fluorocarbon hooklink. This was cast out in conjunction with a PVA bag of maggots.
“This was the first time I had fished The Monument and I couldn’t have asked for a better start – a new personal best and my first ever UK thirty. The fish looked stunning in its winter colours and hopefully I’ll manage a few more from the lake over the next few months.”
Women's World Carp Record broken
THE BIGGEST ever carp landed by a female angler has been caught by Lizette Beunders in the form of this 84lb 5oz mirror from Abbey Lakes in France.
The Dutch angler landed the fishery’s biggest resident, known as Shoulders, during a session on Heron Lake which also saw her land four other carp to 50lb and a 27lb 5oz sturgeon.
Her successful tactics consisted of an 18mm Mainline Baits Cell boilie hookbait offered on a 7ins 25lb Fox Coretex hooklink and a size 6 Kuro S4 XS hooks with a Fox Line Aligna Adaptor pushed over the eye. This was cast out with a PVA bag filled with pellets over a bed of groundbait, chick peas, crushed hemp, sweetcorn and halibut pellets.
Lizette said: “On the last night of the session my alarm burst in to life once again. The fish was clearly not in the mood to be caught and did everything in its power to get rid of the hook. My partner Bianca eventually netted it for me and in the moonlight we could make out the contours of the fish but I still couldn’t believe that I’d caught shoulders. We celebrated this amazing catch with a good bottle of champagne and the next morning I was informed that it was a new world record carp for a lady - incredible!”
Lizette’s catch beats the previous record which was held by British angler Jo Green who caught The Brown Fish from Les Graviers at 84lb in May this year.
Eighth forty of the season
JON TAYLOR has caught his eighth forty of the season in the form of this 42lb 4oz mirror from the Manor Farm syndicate in Essex.
The Benfleet-based Sticky Baits-backed rod tempted the sought-after specimen known as the Big Lin during a 24 hour session on the famous big fish venue.
Fishing at around 20yds range on the marginal shelf, he offered a 16mm Buchu-Berry pop-up on a size 7 Nash Fang Twister hook and a 20lb Missing Link hooklink over a scattering of Vor-Tex free offerings.
Two thirties in 24 hours on maggots
TIM WILKS showed the deadly power of maggots as a cold-water bait with a five-fish haul from the Monument.
The Warrington-based rod fished a one-night session on Rob Hales’ Shropshire water and banked two twenties and two thirties, topped by a new personal best in the shape of this 37lb 7oz mirror.
Fishing mag-aligner rigs in conjunction with inline maggot feeders, the 30-year-old also had a 10lb fish during his two-day session.
He said: “It was a great session. I had both twenties on the Thursday and the two thirties the following day. On both days the bites all came between 1pm and 2pm so this was obviously the feeding time.
“The biggest one fought really well and although the 31lb fish came in a bit easier it still ran me ragged in the margins.”
The brewery technician, who topped up the swim with red and white maggots about once an hour, added: “I fished mag-aligners with two or three maggots on a size-10 hook and cast 40 yards to a firm spot.
“I normally do a few sessions on the Monument in the winter when my syndicate slows down, and as soon as they allow maggots I book in. You can’t beat them!”
Emperor forty
CHRIS Rampling has caught his second forty in six months in the form of this 40lb 12oz mirror from Emperor Lakes in Devon.
The venue regular set up his stall in a swim known as the Dead End on the complex’s Syndicate Lake and tempted the impressive specimen with an ACE Baits boilie hookbait.
He said: “I caught the same fish earlier in the year at 37lb so it is great to see that the carp in the venue are piling on the weight.”
For more information on the fishery visit: www.emperorlakes.co.uk
Sandhurst forty on maggots
MAGGOTS are regarded as one of the best winter carp baits – and Jon Ogan can certainly pay testament to this after breaking his personal best with this 41lb 4oz mirror known as Nige’s Fish during a 48 hour session at Yateley Sandhurst Lake.
When he arrived at the venue, the West Sussex-based rod found the majority of anglers set up at one end of the lake, and with no fish showing he decided to get away from the angling pressure and headed to the far end of the water.
“I’d fished the swim previously and soon had my rods out over a deep silt gulley at 60yds,” said Jon. “I put a dozen or so Spombs of maggots out that had been coated in Sticky's Pure Krill Powder and fished a bunch of maggots over the top.”
The first night passed without event but the following afternoon, just as he was thinking about moving swims, a fish crashed close to his spot.
“I quickly re-baited my spots with another dozen Spombs of the krilled maggots before landing two rigs right on the money. Everything was looking good and a couple of hours later my right hand indicator pulled up tight and the clutch started to give a little line.
“I lifted into the fish which stayed low and a slow fight ensued, I had a feeling it was a good fish and I was praying that my hook wouldn't pull out as it plodded up and down the margin. All the time I was expecting the fish to wake up properly and give me a pasting but my luck held and she popped up and I scooped her up quick and easy.”
Jon’s winning maggot presentation consisted of a 5ins 10lb Daiwa Sensor hooklink knotless knotted to a size 8 hook with a PVA bag of maggots.
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.”
40lb 4oz common for Jerry Hammond
JERRY Hammond has caught his twenty third UK carp over the 40lb-barrier in the form of this 40lb 4oz common.
The owner of Carthagena Fishery was fishing on his own syndicate water when he hooked in to the fish which has avoided capture since the start of the season.
With carp showing just below the surface he started the session using zig rigs but when the fish dropped down in the water he switched over to chod rigs on the deck.
This produced a 12lb mirror almost straight away and then on the final morning the specimen known as Tango.
Jerry used a new boilie he is helping develop with Mad Baits on chod rigs tied with ESP Stiff Rig Bristle Filament and size 5 Stiff Rigger hooks.
He said: “I’ve just signed with Century so this was the perfect way to christen my new ADV-1 rods. It’s the first time this fish has topped the 40lb-barrier too.”
End of year success
BEN DOWERS banked the biggest mirror in his club lake on his last proper session of the year in the form of this 35lb 6oz specimen which topped a four-fish catch on the south-eastern venue.
The Suffolk-based rod who is backed by bait company Sticky, fished blow-back rigs in conjunction with small PVA bags.
He said: “I was hoping that the big common that resides in the lake was going to slip up during the session and things started off well when the first three nights produced three fish.
“However, the frosts then came and things went quiet and just one other fish graced my net. Fortunately for me it was a decent fish, in fact at first I even thought it was the biggie by the scrap it gave me.
“I was quite surprised to see a mirror go over the net cord but it turns out it's the largest mirror in the lake so I was well happy with that.
“I will hopefully do a bit more time on the lake through the winter but come spring I will have a more concerted go at it.
“For now though I’m more than happy with the mirror, even if it wasn't my target fish."
All the fish were taken using 16mm Sticky Baits Vor-tex boilies with bags of crumbed boilies and matching flavoured pellets.
The rigs were placed over a bed of various sizes of free offerings, pellets and particles.
Damo's 93lb mirror
Damian Clarke has become the first English angler to bank two 88lb-plus carp from two different venues, after hunting down the famous Scarred Mirror, from Luke Moffat’s Les Graviers lake, near Dijon in France.
The huge specimen, which is one of the biggest fish in the world, breaks his previous personal best which stood at an already impressive 88lb after banking the huge Saussaie common last year. And it was that capture that sparked Damian’s interest in chasing another 80lb-plus fish.
“After targeting and catching the Saussaie common last September I wanted to catch something as big or bigger,” he told Angling Times. “The list of venues that hold carp of that size and are accessible to all are extremely limited. The Graviers holds the famous Scarred Mirror that was once the world record at 99lb. As well as this fish there is another over 80lb, so it seemed the obvious choice.”
The Korda operations manager quickly hatched a plan to single out the venue’s biggest resident. “Scar is a fish that is seen a lot in the margins and with the calm cold weather I just imagined him visiting an area that was well over 200 yards out from my swim. I'd not seen anything - it was purely an instinctive decision.”
After heading out in the boat to investigate the area close to some dense foliage he found a firm ‘sweet spot’ that he fancied. “The bottom of the lake has a lot of clay on it and I simply bumped the lead on the bottom until the lead didn't stick, indicating a harder spot. This was where I placed my hookbait. To complete the trap, I dropped 20 15mm Mainline Hybrid boilies and a very small handful of sweetcorn. I've been asked why I used sweetcorn on a lake that has a great many bream in? Simply, I wasn't too concerned about the bream - I had seen how corn was used to get an immediate feeding response in similarly cold water conditions on the Underwater 7 shoot, so I wasn’t about to leave it out of the baiting situation.”
Damian explained what he took into consideration when coming up with a rig to target one of the biggest fish in the World. “I'm not one for using really big hooks, I know that 60lb carp have huge mouths, but I’m confident in a particular setup. The rig featured a size 6 Wide Gape X hook, with a ring sliding on the shank and a small piece of shrink over the eye of the hook. The hooklink material was my ever-faithful Hybrid Stiff in 20lb, 5.5 inches in length. This setup is something both Danny Fairbrass and I have caught a lot of carp on from a variety of different waters. I threaded two standard bottom baits onto the hair. The reason I did this was, firstly, to be a little different - most anglers use singles or snowman type setups and, secondly, one of our lads has caught a great many big carp from Gigantica using multiple baits on the hair.”
The instinctive choice of location and carefully thought out tactics bore fruit in the very early hours of the Wednesday morning of Damian’s weeklong session. “The fact that it was slowly taking line against a tight clutch at over 200 yards was the first signal that it was a big fish. Just five minutes into the fight I was convinced it was the one. It took about 30 minutes to get the fish to within 20 yards and a further 15 arm aching minutes to get it near the net. From the first sighting, the huge scar that runs down its flank was clearly visible. It was the moment I'd been waiting for! Being attached to a carp you know weighs over 90lb was certainly intense. Luke, the lake owner, came round and with help from my fishing partner Clive Gibbins and another angler we carefully weighed and photographed the Scar on an extremely cold and misty November night at 93lb 8oz.”
As if the Scar wasn’t enough, Damian also banked mirrors of 20lb, 38lb, 40lb, 41lb, 48lb and 55lb 14oz! So, where next for Korda’s monster hunter? “Well, the obvious place would be Rainbow Lake but there is another beautiful 80lb-plus carp I would love to catch along with the Brown Fish at Graviers. Those, along with the huge creatures that inhabit Gigantica, will certainly keep me busy for the next few years!” he added.
Winter fifty
A FISH that rarely makes an autumn appearance showed just how big it can go in the colder months by tipping the scales at exactly 57lb.
The huge mirror was banked by Matt Jackson during the final night of a weekend session on a southern gravel pit.
The 25-year-old factory worker said: “It’s never been that big before and it’s been known as a bit of an autumn dodger — people always wondered how big it would go if it was caught at this time of year.”
The Salisbury rod fished from Friday to Monday over the Bonfire Night weekend, and had the take just before daybreak on the final morning.
“It’s quite a rural area so there were loads of fireworks going off to begin with and that killed it for the first two nights,” he said.
But a twitchy take on Monday morning, followed by a difficult fight through a weedy swim, eventually yielded the prized capture.
“It’s a pretty tough water,” said Matt, “top rod last year had nine fish and some people only get one or two a season, but this year I’ve had 22 bites and landed 18 different fish — but this one really was the icing on the cake.”
Matt fished a CC Moore Odyssey XXX pop-up on a stiff rig over 3kg of freebies at 150 yards’ range next to a weedbed.
Boilie and maggot cocktail produces 31lb mirror
Carp don’t get much better looking than this 31lb mirror caught by Martin Cannon during a session on the Linch Hill Fishery Christchurch syndicate in Oxfordshire.
Dropping in the closest free swim to where he’d seen fish showing, the 31-year-old Honda shift manager from Swindon baited a clear area with 0.75kg of CC Moore N-Gage XP boilies and 10 spods of dead maggots.
He then cast two rods over the bait and one off to the side with a 15mm boilie hookbait tipped with 5 maggots inside a small solid PVA bag. In the early hours of the following morning this rod burst in to life and after weeding him up, Martin had to wade out and coax his prize towards the waiting net.
His winning setup consisted of a 4ins Fox Coretex hooklink with all of the outer coating removed and a size 8 Gardner Incizor hook.
Short session success
Stu Morgan proved you don’t to spend days on end camped by the lake to catch big carp with this 35lb common topping a four fish catch taken in a short morning session lasting just a few hours.
The Hampshire-based bait maker visited his local syndicate the day before and spodded out a mix of bait to a spot which he’d caught from recently.
He then returned the following morning at first light and cast out two blow-back rigs to the area.
“Within a couple of hours I was playing my first carp of the day, but unfortunately I lost it in the weed,” he said. “I need not have worried, though, as in the next two hours I managed a 15lb 14oz common, mirrors of 22lb 8oz and 19lb 8oz and topped it off with a fish known as The Long Common.”
Stu’s winning presentation consisted of 25lb Fox Coretex hooklinks attached to size 7 Arma Point SSSP hooks.
“If you can get a swim ‘rocking’ by applying bait on a regular basis then it often means you can reduce your time spent on the bank while keeping your catch results soring,” he added.
Chilly lands Manor Farm's Spike
“This is a capture that has well and truly lit my fire!” These were the words of Ian Chillcott after capturing Spike from Richworth Linear Fisheries’ Manor Farm at 44lb 6oz.
Arriving to find the lake busy and no signs of fish showing he dropped in to a swim which an angler had just vacated but the first night passed without event.
“The next day I was watching the water when I saw a slick coming up in front of a swim to my right at about 75 yards range,” he said. “I quickly wound in one rod and took it, along with a net and a mat, to the peg and cast out a pop-up towards it. I’d literally just sat down when it ripped off and after a spirited scrap I landed a 24lb mirror.”
With the fish returned he wasted no time moving the rest of his tackle into the swim and soon had all three rods in position. He then baited the spot with 1.5kg of a new prototype boilie from Mainline Baits in a mixture of 10mm and 15mm sizes along with half a kilo of matching Response pellets.
“In the middle of the night I had another screaming take and I lifted into what felt like a tuna! It just kept charging off on powerful runs and stayed deep. After 20 minutes I eventually gained the upper hand and slipped it into the net. I was delighted when I realised it was Spike because it is one of the lake’s jewels. And at weight of 44lb 6oz it is my biggest ever Oxfordshire carp.”
Chilly mounted pop-up hookbaits on hinged-stiff rigs tied with size 5 Arma Point SR hooks and a 30lb Fox Illusion hook section with a prototype hooklink material boom section.
“The fact that it was caught while field-testing new rig components for Fox and bait for Mainline was a great confidence booster. The capture was made all the more special as it was taken during a filming session for a segment for a new DVD that will be released in 2013,” he added.
40 year old leather landed
THIS 30lb 10oz leather has to be one of the oldest carp in the country and is believed to be at least 40-years-old.
It was caught by Luke Griffiths during an overnight session on the Little Bundy’s day-ticket water in Cambridgeshire.
Targeting a spot on the edge of an overhanging tree in 20 feet of water just 10 yards from the bank, the 24-year-old carpenter baited the area with 30, 18mm Mainline Baits Cell boilies. Over the top of this he positioned a matching hookbait on a size 6 Fox Arma Point XSC hook with a Line Aligna Adaptor pushed over the eye and a 25lb Coretex hooklink.
“I have been dabbling on the lake on and off all year but decided to have a concerted winter campaign to try and catch the leather,” said Luke. “This was only the second night of my campaign and I was surprised to catch it so quickly as it doesn’t get caught very often. Not only is it a stunning looking fish, the fact that it is nearly twice as old as me makes it a really special capture.”
Elstow Pits under threat
THE FUTURE of one of the UK’s most influential carp waters has come under threat.
Elstow Pits in Bedfordshire have produced many of the country’s best anglers and were also the birthplace of numerous tackle items that we all take for granted such as dedicated spod and marker rods.
Korda’s hugely popular Stow bobbins are even based on the style of indicator first developed by an angler while fishing Elstow.
The waters could be lost to angling, however, following a planning permission application for a proposed landfill site and incineration facility which has been submitted by FCC Environment who currently have a recycling centre next to the lake.
Anglers have reacted angrily to the news with a Save Elstow Pits page set up on social networking site Facebook. And Angling Times is calling all anglers to help save the historic lakes.
Ian Stott caught one the lake’s most sought after residents, The Mother, at a weight of 49lb in January 2005 said: “It was always my dream to go back to the venue and have another go at some point in the future. Surely they can’t be allowed to deprive other people of their dreams.”
Another venue regular, Paul Rudd, told Angling Times: “It’s the birthplace of modern carp fishing and it would be a travesty if the application is approved. As well as the amazing fish which the lake’s hold they are also home to such a wide range of wildlife.”
To formally object to the planning application go to: www.publicaccess.bedford.gov.uk/online-applications and enter 12/01306/FULWME in the search box. All objections must be submitted by December 12.
43lb 8oz linear ends run of blanks
MARTIN Pick brought a welcome end to a run of 20 blank nights with the capture of this 43lb 8oz linear from Wellington Country Park in Berkshire.
After a quick lead about the Leicestershire-based rod located a small clear area surrounded by dying weed at 100 yards range.
He then baited the spot with a kilo of mixed 10mm, 15mm and 18mm DT Baits Cold Water Mix boilies and cast a 15mm fluoro white pop-up hookbait over the top.
“When I arrived I had actually seen a fish show down the other end of the lake, but one of the other anglers told me that in the last couple of nights there had been a number of carp showing in the area of the water which I’d been concentrating on so this was where I headed to.
“It had been a long time since my last take from the lake so it was a massive relief when my alarm burst into life shortly after midnight,” Martin told Angling Times.
“The fish weeded me up almost straight away and I had to go out in the boat to try and free it. Once I got over the fish I managed to get it moving again and because it was a full moon I could just make out a huge ball of weed and a decent looking carp coming up towards the net. I’ve never had a 40lb-plus linear before so I was buzzing to finally put one on the bank. Hopefully, a 40lb common won’t be far away now as I know there are several in the venue.”
Martin put his faith in a reverse combi-rig which consisted of a 20lb Korda N-Trap and 25lb Mouthtrap hooklink attached to a size 6 Choddy hook.
