Birthday snow carp

KEV Hewitt received an early birthday present in the form of this 36lb 6oz mirror caught in the snow from Orchid Lake.

The specimen, known as Big Ron, came during a three night session on the popular Oxfordshire day-ticket water.

Kev, who manages Cotswold Angling in Swindon, had to shake a layer of snow from his rod and reel as the fish tore off at first light.

It was his first 30lb-plus carp to be caught in the month of January and arrived just a day before his 29th birthday.

He said: “I turned up after work on Saturday just on dark and on Sunday morning I moved into a swim where my mate had blanked but where I’d seen a fish show.

“I plumbed the swim quite extensively and found a shallower area on gravel at about 80 yards’ range.”

Kev fished CC Moore Live System corkball pop-ups on hinged-stiff rigs and had action at all hours of the day to land three twenties, a double and the thirty. Each capture was followed by the introduction of 200 free offerings.

“When I was planning the session I saw the forecast and hoped for a thirty in the snow on my birthday, and it all came together a day early,” said Kev, “I love photography and I don’t think anything comes close to a big carp in these conditions.”