Two 30lb carp in one night from Norfolk water

A quick overnight session on the Catch 22 No. 2 Syndicate in Norfolk produced a brace of thirties for Lewis Russell.

The highlight of the Norwich-based Nash field tester’s session was the ‘lake’s gem’, The  Big Fully at a best ever weight of 35lb. This was backed up with the Two Tone common at 36lb 12oz.

“I couldn’t decide whether to go down to the pond for a quick overnighter but I’m so glad I did now,” he said. “The weather was horrible when I arrived, it was blowing a gale and raining non-stop. I ended up choosing a swim called IT purely due to the fact that the lake’s big common was due out and this is one of the areas it usually comes from.

“I had all three rods out and had seen several shows before dark so was feeling pretty confident,” he added.

His first take came at 4am to his left hand rod which he’d positioned on a hard patch of silt in 11ft of water at 25 yards range.

“After a decent scrap I had the Big Fully in the net. To say I was buzzing was an understatement as it’s the lake’s gem.”

Two hours later he was in again, with the Two Tone Common falling to his right hand rod which was fished to the bottom of a gravel bar in 10ft of water.

Both fish were taken on Nash Scopex Squid Red bottom baits tipped with red plastic corn over 100 free offerings. These were mounted on rigs tied with 15lb Nash Missing Link hooklinks and size 7 Fang Twisters.

 


Lee Shulver banks 41lb mirror carp from Suffolk Water Park

Lee Shulver joined the forties club with the capture of this 41lb mirror known as Magical from the Big Fish Lake at Suffolk Water Park.

The 47-year-old from Ipswich headed to a quite area of the popular day-ticket water to get away from angling pressure and with the use of his marker rod was able to locate a clear channel between two large weedbeds at 70 yards range.

He had to wait until the final morning of his 48-hour session for the all-important take and following a 20 minute battle he landed his new personal best.

Lee’s winning presentation consisted of a critically-balanced 18mm Mainline Cell boilie mounted on a size 8 Fox Arma Point SSC hook and Korda N-Trap hooklink over a bed of hemp and boilies.


Spike out at 39lb 14oz

An ultra short two inch hooklink led to the downfall of one the most sought after fish in Manor Farm Lake on the Richworth Linear complex – this 39lb 14oz mirror known as Spike.

Lancashire’s Andy Adams had made the long drive to the famous Oxfordshire fishery and dropped in to the only remaining free swim on the northern end of the lake where he’d seen a few fish showing at close range.

“I was just tying up a couple of solid bags when a good fished crashed out about 50yds in front of me,” said the 23-year-old workshop manager. “I had a couple of casts with a lead and once I’d got a decent drop I got everything clipped-up and put a bag on the spot.”

His rod had only been on the alarm for 10 minutes it signalled a screaming take. A spirited fight followed which concluded with a scaly 22lb mirror in the net.

“I’d only just returned the fish when the same rod was away again. A lengthy battle ensued and at one point the fish just buried its head in the silt and refused to move. I eventually got her moving and once in the net I recognised it as the old mirror known as Spike.”

Andy offered a Sticky Peach and Pepper wafter hookbait inside a solid PVA bag filled with crushed Krill boilies, 2mm and 3mm bloodworm pellets, L-Zero 30 glug and Krill liquid.

“The next 48 hours didn’t produce any action so I moved to St John’s Lake where I landed two more carp of 18lb and 20lb then a catfish of 65lb,” he added.


Two St John's thirties for Chris Lowe

A change in tactics paid dividends for Chris Lowe who landed this stunning scaly 30-pounder.

The Avid-backed angler had nothing for two days at Richworth Linear’s St John’s Lake, until two thirties showed up on the final morning.

The heavily scaled specimen went 30lb 8oz, while the other pulled the needle round to 30lb 12oz.

The Linear regular said: “I fished for three days and filled it in with boilies. Initially I put in 5kg of 15mm Sonubaits’ Code Red and then topped it up with an additional 2kg of 12mm ones. To be honest I thought I might have overdone it as no fish showed over me for two days. In the end I received two takes and banked two thirties.”

Chris, who often fishes pellets and particles at the venue, added: “It’s not generally a boilie water, you’re normally better off fishing ‘bits and pieces’, but I changed my approach this week as we’re moving into autumn.

“I was fishing over the top of some weed, which was the closest area to where I thought the fish were. I was using inch-and-a-half pop-ups, just resting over the weed, and used a lead clip system so I was detaching the lead when I hooked the fish.

“The scaly one was an absolute beauty. Linear’s fishery officer, Chris Blunt, did the pictures and it’s not one we recognised.”



Five carp in a day at Savay

Five carp in a season from Savay would be classed as a great result, but that many in a session is pretty much unheard of – but Stuart Court achieved the incredible feat with a haul that included a brace of forties.

The Watford-based all-rounder’s session didn’t get off to the best start when, on the second night of his week rota on the historic Colne Valley water, he landed an upper-thirty which subsequently escaped from the net while he was arranging a photographer.

His luck soon changed when he landed two more thirties the next day - a 30lb 12oz common and an ancient mirror of 30lb 8oz.

“That night I was kept awake by liner, after liner, after liner so I knew there was obviously a few fish in the area,” explained the 41-year-old. “What happened next is still a bit of a haze, but that morning I ended up two forties in the net at the same time. The first was a fish known as the Long Leney at a weight of 40lb exactly. After a decent scrap I netted it, and as I could still see fish in the area I quickly recast the rod. Incredibly, shortly afterwards I had another take which resulted in one of my target fish – The Wimbledon Common at 45lb 10oz. It was a stroke of luck that I had two nets with me as I usually only carry one.

“I’ve been told that I’m possibly first angler to have two Savay forties on the bank at the same time,” he added.

All of Stuart’s fish were taken from the top of a gravel plateau at 40 yards range which he kept topped up with Baitcraft Super K boilies. Over the top of this he cast snowman style hookbaits consisting of a 15mm bottom topped with a Tutti Frutti barrel-shaped pop-up. These were mounted on rigs constructed from 25lb ESP Strip Teaze Two Tone Silt and a Raptor D7 hook.

“It’s fairly uncommon to catch from the top of the bars and plateaus at Savay. I’d seen a few fish up in the water the previous week, though, so I took a gamble that they would still be happy feeding in the shallower water. As the fish don’t show themselves much a lot of the fishing at Savay is based on your gut instincts and this time I was lucky enough to get it right.”

 


Seven-fish hit from Acton

Fishing three swims in four nights helped Scott Rodgers bank a big hit from Acton’s Bottom Lake.

Mirrors of 31lb 15oz, 39lb 14oz and 46lb 8oz fell to roving tactics that also accounted for four other fish.

Scott took advantage of having the seven-acre Shropshire venue to himself during his stay and moved swims regularly to maximise his chances.

The Derbyshire rod said: “It was fantastic fishing. Four great days of angling and I broke my personal best by 10oz.

“I had the big girl at about 8.30am and having returned her I had the 39lb 14oz immediately – 30 seconds later! All the fish were in fantastic condition.”

Scott, who also had two mid-double mirrors, a 12lb common and a 21lb 2oz mirror, fished one night in the Middle Road swim, the next in the First Road peg and moved to the opposite side of the lake to spend the last two in the Island swim.

The 47-year-old butcher’s proprietor fed 13kg of Key Bait Solutions’ Rhino boilies and caught his fish on pop-ups and snowman rigs.

He said: “Luckily I had the lake to myself so I baited my third of the lake and fished short for the first couple of days to allow the fish to have a free feed, then fished a bit more centrally after that.”

 


39lb 2oz 'Patch' banked on overnighter

An overnighter on Frimley Pit Three produced this beautiful fully scaled mirror for Alisdair Stevens.

The Hampshire rod chose an unfancied swim and banked the 39lb 2oz fish, known as Patch, at 2am.

The 43-year-old said: “I chose the swim because it had been unfished for a while. I heard two fish roll while I was there and I got a one-toner at 2am. I was watching an episode of Entourage on my tablet and by the time I’d landed it it had finished, so I knew it took 20 minutes to come in!”

The sheet-metal fabricator added: “The fish came to the surface at first but once it got in the margins it fought well, plodding away. I didn’t put my headtorch on so I didn’t know which fish it was until I got it on the bank.”

Alisdair, who has previously banked a 42lb common from Frimley, baited a silt patch between weedbeds at about 30 yards. He fished a double 18mm Mainline Cell hookbait over 20 matching free offerings and his successful rig featured a size 6 Gardner Incizor hook attacked to 20lb Fox Cortex and a 2.25oz inline lead.

 

 


Overnight brace tops 81lb for Jerry Hammond

An overnight session on the North Met Pit in the Lea Valley produced a brace of carp for a combined weight of over 81lb for Jerry Hammond.

The Hertfordshire-based fishery owner and Trakker consultant set up on the most southern end of the tricky 65-acre lake on the end of a new northerly wind. He was beginning to doubt his location choice when the sight of 10 carp moving in and out of the area convinced him to stay put.

“They were moving around pretty fast and not really stopping, but I was sure if they stayed in the area they would feed after dark,” Jerry told Angling Times.

“During the night it chucked it down and just after dawn I received a fast take. The fish really did power off and caused me all sorts of problems but I eventually netted a big hefty mirror. It looked massive and weighed in at 43lb.

“Not really expecting any more action, I recast the rod and an hour later the same rod was off again. This one didn’t fight as hard thankfully and I soon had another good fish in the net. This time it was a common of 38lb 4oz that concluded a great night’s fishing.”

Jerry’s winning tactics consisted of a Mad Baits Wicked Whites pop-up on a chod rig fished over a scattering of a new bait on test called The Hybrid.



Martin Pick lands one of the biggest ghost carp in the country

This 44lb ghost carp saved Martin Pick from a three day blank during his latest session at Wellington Country Park in Berkshire.

The Leicestershire-based Trakker consultant fished three different swims during the trip in a bid to try and track down the fish, and he eventually latched in to one just 90 minutes before packing up.

He said: “I was fishing 95 yards to a hard clear area in around 4ft of water. I baited with half a kilo of DT Baits Cold Water Mix with Green Beast frozen 15mm boilies and cast a 15mm Supa Fruit pop-up over the top.”

Martin mounted his hookbait on a reverse combi-rig tied with 25lb Korda Mouth Trap and 20lb N-Trap Soft with a size 6 Korda Choddy hook.

He added: “I have a feeling this is one of, if not the biggest, ghost carp in the country.”


Stunning common caught from gravel pit

This stunning 33lb 8oz common was landed by Luke Griffiths from a tricky five-acre Cambridgeshire gravel pit nicknamed the ‘Leney Lake’.

The 25-year-old Peterborough-based landscape gardener fooled the impressive specimen with a Mainline Baits Milky Toffee pop-up presented over a bed of Hybrid boilies.

He mounted his hookbait on his favourite hinged-stiff rig presentation which was constructed with a Coretex Matt boom section and 25lb Rigidity attached to an Arma Point SR hook.


36lb common taken in overnight session

This immaculate 36lb 6oz common was the highlight of Jordan Dicks’ overnight session on the Carp Society’s Farriers Lake in the Cotswolds.

The Bristol Angling Centre manager landed the stunning specimen, along with a smaller fish, from a silty area at 60 yards range which he had baited with around 4 kilos of Nash Bait Monster Squid boilies and offered a matching hookbait over the top.


One of the biggest carp in the UK banked at 62lb 4oz

One of the biggest carp in the UK has been landed by Matt Bryant in the shape of this huge 62lb 4oz mirror known as The Parrot.

The colossal specimen resides in the Cranwells Lake syndicate water on the Wasing Estate in Berkshire and was landed in the early hours of the morning by the 25-year-old police officer.

Arriving to be greeted by a strong, cold northerly wind he was surprised to find several fish showing in just three foot of water.

He wasted no time getting a hookbait among them but also decided to err on the side of caution and positioned another hookbait, consisting of a double 15mm Mainline Baits Cell bottom bait, in a deeper 8ft gulley close to an island.

It proved to be a wise move as it was this rod that produced a bite at 2am. “The fight was fairly uneventful and when I saw it coming towards me in the light of my headtorch I thought it was a forty known as Floppy Tail,” he said. “When I looked in the net I realised it was far too big and could only be The Parrot.”

Matt, who has been a member of the syndicate for 10 years, added: “The fish appears to be starting to put a bit of weight on again this year. It will be interesting to see what it does over the next few seasons as it could well get close to breaking the British record.”

The Parrot first broke the 60lb-barrier in October 2011 but is usually caught around the upper-fifty mark. The current British carp record is held by Oz Holness who landed Two Tone at a weight of 67lb 14oz in 2008.


Teenager banks 31lb mirror after piercing finger with hook

Teenager Kai Richards overcame piercing his finger with a hook to land this 31lb 6oz mirror.

Disaster struck the 13-year-old Hampshire angler as he set up his first rod on a local venue.

The Gardner-backed youngster explained: “The rod slipped off my bivvy and the hook went into my finger! Fortunately my mate just managed to pull it out, so I could actually fish the night and not wait in the hospital for hours.”

Having regained his composure, Kai was spodding over one of his spots when he received a screaming take. After a weed-hindered fight, he eventually netted a seldom-caught 25lb 6oz mirror known as the Bream.

After an uneventful night and following day, Kai introduced another 5kg of particles and 3kg of Mainline Cell and Hybrid boilies. At 11am the next morning, he got the bite he wanted.

He said: “It weeded me up soon after the take but after steady pressure I managed to get it all moving again. As it neared the edge I could see a big ball of weed and somewhere in the middle I could just make out the head of a carp. It was slowly coming towards the net but as soon as the weed uncovered its head it shot down in the margins. After steadily leading it back, my mate quickly slipped the net under it. We instantly recognised it as Pablo and it weighed in at 31lb 6oz!”

Kai used blowback rigs made 25lb Sly Skin, a size 6 Covert Incizor hook and a 3oz lead. 

 


Autumn campaign off to flying start with 43lb mirror carp

Matt Jackson battled a windswept southern pit to get his autumn campaign off to the best possible start with this 43lb 8oz mirror.

The 25-year-old Wiltshire rod had a frustrating day in the teeth of a big wind before eventually finding a spot he wanted to fish.

The Greys and Chub-backed angler explained: “The wind was so strong that I couldn’t even feel the lead down at anything over about 50 yards. It was literally impossible to find an area I would have been happy fishing, so the marker rod was chucked back in the motor and it was time to think of a plan B.”

After visiting a smaller lake nearby, and finding it very busy, Matt returned to big pit an hour before darkness.

“Quite often the wind will ease just before dark so I stopped back in at the big pit for a last-gasp look in hope I could salvage the day,” said Matt.

Having found an area on the back of a bar at 140 yards, Matt managed to get some bait and three hinged stiff rigs on to the spot.

He said: “The wind really picked up again in the night and I had a good feeling that there would be at least a few fish on such a warm strong wind. First light produced nothing and no signs of fish at all, but out of the blue at 10am one of the rods went into absolute meltdown. After coaxing it from weedbed to weedbed I finally slipped the net under what looked to be quite a decent fish. At 43lb 8oz she was a very nice welcome-back offering, made even sweeter after the previous day’s events.”

 


New world record Siamese carp banked

A prediction that a special fish was going to come his way proved correct for Keith Williams as he landed a new world record Siamese carp of 134lb 7oz during a holiday to Thailand.

The Surrey based rod made the long journey to the prolific Gillhams Fishing Resort and upon his arrival stated to friends that he could ‘feel it in his bones’ that a specimen of huge proportions would be heading his way.

With very few indications coming in the early stages, it looked as though his dream wouldn’t come true but that all changed when a big fish picked up his double 25mm pellet hookbait.

If verified by the International Game Fish Association it will beat the previous official best of 114lb 10oz.

 


A lunchtime date with 51lb 9oz Dave

A surprise lunchtime bite produced one of the finest day-ticket carp in the country for Chris Lilley.

The 51lb 9oz mirror, known as Dave, came from Swan Lake at Northamptonshire’s Bluebell complex during a 48-hour weekend session.

Chris, who once caught Benson, the venue’s much-loved 60lb common, got the take at 1.15pm.

The 49-year-old Cambridgeshire rod said: “The lake was busy but I went for an area that was due to be facing the wind and which was receiving less pressure from other anglers.

“I was fishing to a silty gulley about 30 yards out and put all three rods on the spot, along with about 4kg of Mainline Hybrid boilies.

“The take came after approximately 20 hours, at about 1.15pm, and was really out of the blue. At first light I’d seen quite a big fish showing itself to the right of the spot, but I was just thinking about reeling in the rods when I got the bite.
He added: “It was a top result.”

Chris fished a Hybrid boilie on a combi rig comprising fluorocarbon and ESP Sink Link, and a size 6 Korda Wide Gap X hook.


Swim change pays off with huge 42lb mirror

Moving swims in the pouring rain paid off enabled Matt Eaton to bank this 42lb mirror.
The Greys and Chub Academy member didn’t let the weather stop him moving on to feeding fish before extracting the specimen from a whole in the weed.

He said: “I moved swims in the pouring rain after finding a couple of feeding fish. I baited with a couple of handfuls of Mainline Cell and managed to take the big mirror from a small hole in the weed.”

Matt used a chod rig incorporating G-Force components, a length of leadcore and a 1.1oz lead. The fish was tamed on a 3.5lb-test-curve Greys Aircurve rod.

 


Two Oxlease forties from Linear Fisheries

Maggots and Oxlease Lake are becoming an inseparable partnership – as Adrian Greaves’ incredible brace of 40s demonstrates.

The 27-year-old Birmingham angler fed eight gallons of wrigglers at the Linear Fisheries venue and banked 20 fish in just 24 hours – including the water’s first-ever 40lb mirror and a 46lb 10oz common.

The industrial cleaner fished close to the 26-acre lake’s only island and baited a gravel patch heavily from the off.

He told Angling Times: “It was a swim I’ve fished before, but it was also one of the only ones left on the lake as it was pretty busy.

“I Spombed out about three gallons of maggots to begin with. I was fishing with a mate and he had four fish before I’d had any, so I wasn’t sure whether to put more in or hold back, but I decided to hold back and once I started getting bites I kept topping up the area.”

The big common, which is the biggest at the Oxfordshire complex, arrived at 3pm on the first day, followed by the big mirror just an hour before the pair were due to pack up.

Adrian returned to the venue last week for a 48-hour session and managed another seven fish to 31lb on similar tactics.

Reflecting on the brace of forties, he said: “I was ecstatic, to be honest. I don’t think I’m ever going to have a better session in the UK.”

Adrian’s rigs incorporated two pop-up fake maggots and about 20 real ones on a Korda Maggot Klip tied to Korda’s N-Trap Soft hooklink material.

 

 


48lb mirror on plastic tigers

Mike Milton recorded a session of a lifetime with two twenties, four thirties, and a 48.14 mirror – and there wasn’t a boilie in sight.

Even more remarkably, it was the Northants Specimen Group member’s first fishing trip since he banked a 30lb pike in February.

Arriving at a Colne Valley syndicate on a Monday, the 41-year-old sales director fished four nights and caught consistently throughout his session, despite only putting lines in the water when he was confident of a bite.

He told Angling Times: “I was just blown away by it. It was one of those sessions that just got better and better.”

Mike baited with a total of about 15kg of hemp and 2kg of tigers throughout the week, and used plastic tigers as hookbaits to combat the resident crayfish.
“I was catching consistently at 10pm, 1am and 5am,” said the Leicestershire rod, “so I’d reel in at about midday each day and bait up the spots. I then wouldn’t recast until about 7pm, so I was keeping lines out of the water.”

Mike’s fish came from clay areas up to 95 yards out and fell to five-inch Sufix Stealth Skin hooklinks tied to size 8 hooks tied fished blow-back style. Mike overweighted his pop-up plastic tigers so they sank slowly.

Describing the capture of the biggest fish of the session, he said: “The bite came in the dark at about 5am and I knew it was a decent fish due to the slow, heavy power of it. It came in with a bit of weed on it and when I shone my headtorch on it in the net I thought ‘that’s got to be close to 40lb’, but when I went to bring it out I could hardly lift it. On the mat I was just blown away by its sheer bulk.”

Mike's catch log:
Tuesday morning: 31lb common
Tuesday evening: 38lb 2oz mirror
Wednesday morning: 32lb 10oz common
Wednesday morning: 15lb mirror
Thursday morning: 48lb 14oz mirror
Thursday morning: 31lb 4oz mirror
Thursday: 22lb 4oz common and 13lb 8oz mirror
Friday: 17lb 4oz mirror and 20lb 12oz common