Student bags target fish at 40lb 2oz top weight
After a frustrating summer, student TJ Elliot refocused his efforts in time for winter and bagged his target fish at its biggest-ever weight.
The 40lb 2oz mirror fell during an overnight session on a busy club lake that had frustrated the Sparsholt College student during the warmer months.
He said: “To be honest, the summer was pretty slow with the odd bite here and there, and I just started to lose interest. It seemed as If I was more interested in riding my BMX than being down the lake.
“But for the last couple of weeks something has been telling me to get down there and fish a particular swim. So I did.”
Arriving at 3pm on a Sunday, TJ put a kilo of boilies on to two spots and went to bed feeling confident.
The Gardner-backed rod continued: “All that was running through my head was ‘I’m going to catch it’. At 7am I was luckily woken up to the sound of my reel clicking, as my bobbin had jammed the roller on my alarm. I quickly jumped out of my brolly and hit into what felt like a huge bream.
“It didn’t show itself once until it finally came up to the net. My heart sank and all I kept thinking was ‘please don’t come off’.
“With the scales zeroed and the sling ready, we settled on a weight of 40lb 2oz. A new personal best for me and the biggest it’s known to have been out at!”
First Hollybush 40 for Ian Chillcott
On his return to the venue where he first cast out a hair-rig back in the eighties, Ian ‘Chilly’ Chillcott has caught the complex’s first ever 40lb-plus carp in the form of this 40lb 10oz mirror.
The historic Hollybush Lakes complex situated in Hampshire has been fished by some of the biggest names in the sport over the years, and was a venue which the Fox International-backed rod had been baiting up with the intention of fishing over the winter.
After catching fish of 30lb and 27lb the week before, he setup in a swim which allowed him to cast to a silt patch close to a band of weed running between two islands at 40yds range. Both rods were baited with 15mm Mainline Hybrid pop-ups tipped with a piece of yellow corn over three kilo of mixed 10mm and 15mm boilies.
“At 5am one of my rods ripped off and I leant in to what I, at first, thought was a stockie,” he told Angling Times. “It then started to do the usual big fish thing of slowly plodding around and any doubts of it being a small fish quickly disappeared.”
A further 20 minutes passed before Chilly netted his prize, beating the long-standing fishery record of 37lb 8oz - a fish caught by Denis Langley in 1974 – in the process.
“As it went over the net cord I thought to myself, ‘that’s a good thirty’, but when the fish rolled over and I saw how deep it was I realised it was a little bit special. To catch the first ever forty from such a historic venue really means a lot to me,” he added.
Chilly mounted his hookbaits on hinged-stiff rigs tied with 25lb Fox Illusion and size 5 Arma Point SR hooks.
Original mirror from Farriers Lake from silt patch
Jordan Dicks landed one of the very rare Farriers Lake original mirrors in the shape of this stunning 31lb 4oz specimen.
The Bristol Angling Centre manager targeted a silt depression at 80yds range which he had been baiting with 10kg of Nash Monster Squid boilies every week.
He said: “There are around 200 carp in the 32-acre lake and only 10 of these are mirrors so they don’t get caught very often. They are known to fight a lot harder than the commons so I had a good idea I was attached to one when it tore off and did its best to avoid the net.”
Jordan fished 15mm Monster Squid bottom baits and 10mm pop-ups snowman style on a size 4 Nash Fang X hook and Missing Link hooklinks.
Banana boilies net four carp to 23lb in 24 hours
A water that hadn’t produced a fish in more than a week provided Carl Sharp with four fish to 23lb during a 24-hour session.
The West Midlands rod travelled to Merrington Fishery in Shropshire and caught two doubles and two commons over 20lb to 23lb 2oz. The biggest fish of the session came just as the 29-year-old was packing away on Saturday morning.
No fish had been caught from the venue for eight days so Carl chose to fish single 11m Solar Top Banana boilies cast to a known winter holding area and used hinged stiff rigs.
Maggots take 77lb brace from Linch Hill
Maggots are one of most effective winter baits – and Marcus Howarth used the little wrigglers to help him land a brace of specimens for a combined weight of over 77lb.
The Portsmouth-based rod made the long journey to the Oxfordshire Linch Hill complex and set up in an area of Christchurch Lake where he’d lost two fish in a night a couple of weeks earlier.
Before getting his hookbaits out he Spombed out four pints of maggots coated in Sticky Bloodworm liquid and Krill Powder over a clean silty area at 70 yards. He then cast out critically-balanced 12mm Buchu-Berry pop-ups.
Marcus said: “The first night was uneventful and nothing was caught anywhere on the lake. Everyone else started baiting up and causing loads of disturbance the next day so I decided to leave my rods alone for the second night.
“It turned out to be a good decision as early the next morning my left-hand-rod was away and after a typical big fish fight, which included getting weeded up 20yds out, I managed to net one of the lake’s bigg’uns at 40lb 10oz.”
He re-baited the spot with a couple more Spombs of maggots for the final night and once again he received a take the following morning.
“The fish put up one hell of a fight but I eventually got the better of a lovely, dark 36lb 12oz mirror,” he said.
37lb mirror from Essex hotspot
This 37lb mirror was the highlight of Sam O’Brien’s 24 hour session on Fryerning Fisheries’ Main Lake in Essex.
The 27-year-old Basildon-based engineer baited a gravel bar 50 yards from the bank with a scattering of 100 Mainline Hybrid boilies per rod.
Following a spirited scrap he beat the impressive specimen known as XL Pecks with a 20lb Korda N-Trap hooklink knotless-knotted to a size 8 Gardner Covert Mugga hook.
77lb mirror new Spanish carp record
This colossal 77lb mirror is believed to be a new Spanish carp record and was landed from the River Ebro by Mike Cuff.
Fishing with his friend, Alan Thomas, under the expert guidance of Gary Allen’s Regency Angling, the pair landed a total of 35 carp and four catfish,
Mike told Angling Times: “Eight of the carp were over 30lb and four over 40lb. The largest mirror tipped the scales at 77lb and the biggest common weighed 51lb. We also landed a huge catfish which bottomed out the scales at 230lb.”
For more info about the guiding service visit: www.garyallensregencyangling.com
Brace of carp in two hours from Northey Park
Lee Griffin bagged a brace of corking Cambrideshire carp during a two-hour morning feeding spell.
Targeting a gravel patch among dying weed, the 25-year-old grabbed a mirror of 37lb 4oz and a 29lb 9oz common.
The lorry driver fed just 10 to 15 boilies per take and managed to extract the fish from the weedy swim at Patsons Lake on the Northey Park syndicate in Peterborough.
He said: “I found fish in the area the previous day and fished close to the dying weed, which is still pretty thick. Both of the fish ripped off on the take and buried themselves in the weed. We’ve got access to a boat there and I had to use it to get the common.”
The big mirror, which is known as Boysie’s, is a new personal best for Lee. He said: “At 37lb 4oz it’s the largest that fish has been and is a new PB for me. At Northey if you hook a good one it just plods and shakes its head, and I knew I was attached to something pretty decent as soon as I bent into it.”
Lee loosefed Mainline Cell boilies and fished a snowman rig featuring a Cell bottom bait and half a Milky Toffee pop-up attached blowback style to a size 6 Fox SSC Arma Point hook. He fished a 3oz lead on a very lightly attached clip and used six inches of Fox Camotex hooklength material.
Preparation pays with Medway Valley Fisheries forty
Careful preparation and a short daytime session between nightshifts resulted in John Waller bagging this Medway Valley Fisheries forty.
The 39-year-old saw one of the lake’s biggest residents roll as he was packing up at the end of one session and made sure he was ready to target the spot on his return.
The Kent angler explained: “I did the Sunday night, as my only night session of the week, and as I was sitting on the bedchair about to pack up I saw a fish known as the Big Mirror show.
“I put a jar of hemp on the spot and cast a rod to the spot and clipped up the rods and my spod rod to that spot, ready for when I could get down there the following day after my nightshift.”
Arriving at the lake at 7.15am, John put out half a kilogram of Dynamite Baits’ Monster Tiger Nut Red Amo boilies and got a take at 9.20am.
“As I was playing it, the middle rod rattled off as well,” said John. “As I thought I was playing the Big Mirror I just had to leave it. Luckily I managed to get the first fish in and I picked up the middle rod and that fish was still on, but it had stripped 200 yards of line and I got cut off on a bar in the middle of the lake.”
The fish in the net went 44lb 2oz and was in fact not the Big Mirror but another of the lake’s biggest residents that had topped 40lb last spring.
John, who was fishing to a silty area 90 yards out, used Ace CXS Razor Point hooks, Rigmarole Skinfull hooklinks and 15lb ESP Crsytal mainline.
Big mirror marks a happy return to southern lake
After four years away from a southern park lake Duncan Hayward returned in style with the capture of this cracking 35lb 8oz mirror.
The Surrey-based rod cast a Tails Up Pro Liver cork ball pop-up to a silt patch in among the weed and baited the feature with a mixture of 18mm and 14mm boilies.
He said: “The fish gave a decent account of itself and at one point it weeded me up solid. After wading out I was able to get it moving again.”
Duncan mounted his hookbaits on chod rigs incorporating G-Force Tackle Straight Point hooks and light dung leads.
53lb mirror ends six-year campaign
A six year campaign came to a triumphant conclusion for Mark Smith when he slipped his net under this 53lb from the Main Lake at Fryerning Fisheries.
The 50-year-old laundry owner from Essex targeted a silt area at 60 yards range in a deeper area of the lake where he thought the fish would be held up and scattered 200 Nash Bait Scopex Squid Red boilies over an area the size of a tennis court.
The first day of the session passed without event, but a change in tactics soon changed his fortunes.
“I started off fishing balanced bottom baits, but after 24 hours without any action I decided to switch to naked chod rigs,” he told Angling Times. “I’d only just cast out when I my alarm let out a few single bleeps. There was a lot of floating weed about so at first I assumed this was the cause. I then heard the spool on my reel slowly ticking over so I lifted in to the take.
“Straight away I could tell it felt different to anything else I’d ever caught from the lake and at the back of mind I had a feeling it was the sought after mirror known as The Gurm.
“I’ve fished at Fryerning for the last six years and always wanted to catch this fish. To have it at 53lb at this time of year was magical,” he added.
Mark mounted his hookbait on a size 6 Nash Fang Twister hook and a 20lb ESP Stiff Rig Bristle Filament hooklink.
World record carp lake gives up 80lb fish to Ed Matthews
The once-secretive Euro Aqua in Hungary has opened its doors to British anglers in recent weeks and Ed Matthews took full advantage to bank this 80lb 12oz mirror.
The Korum-backed angler travelled to the home of the world record carp and caught the specimen along with another of 41lb.
Recalling the moment, he said: “Not only was it a massive fish it was stunning and looked like it could grow much bigger. It was great to share the moment with mates and then back she went. It then all sunk in; I'd done it, a fish of a lifetime! This one will take some beating, but I'll enjoy trying.”
Ed used an Avid Pin Down hooklink tied to a size 4 Avid longshank hook fished blowback style.
44lb mirror carp banked after just ten minutes at the venue
Jon Luff smashed his personal best by more than 15lb on his first visit to a new water.
The 27-year-old latched on to this 44lb 4oz mirror just 10 minutes after casting out at Greenacres near Peterborough.
The windscreen technician from Newmarket in Suffolk was fishing with friends Dan Hadman and Adam Lowbridge, both of whom had visited the water before, but was the only one of the trio to catch.
He said: “Having not fished the place before, I went for a walk round and the only fish I saw top was in the area I fished.
“We drew straws for pegs and I decided just to fish for a bite. I fished towards some reeds on the far bank, though there was a solid weedbed in front so I had to drop short by about a rod length.
“I put about a dozen baits in and had just sorted all my rods and was sitting close to them scouring the water when I got a few bleeps. I was on it straight away and I could feel it was a fair size. My UK PB is 27lb so I was hoping for a thirty.
“When I saw it roll I thought ‘this really is a thirty’ but Dan had come round by this time and he was telling me it was definitely a forty. At that point my legs went to jelly as I still hadn’t got it in!
“It was a fantastic fish from a great venue.”
Jon used Cambridge Carp Bait’s Pickled Krill boilies and a D rig made from Korda IQ fluorocarbon and a size 6 Korda Longshank hook.
Elusive 31lb common carp from Cambridgeshire stillwater
This cracking 31lb 2oz common had avoided capture for the last few years until Dan Stacey fooled it during a recent session on a Cambridgeshire stillwater.
The local rod targeted a pre-baited silty gully on the tricky nine acre weedy pit and received a finicky take early in the afternoon.
“A heart-stopping fight followed,” he told Angling Times. “I was delighted when I saw the common coming towards the net as it hasn’t been caught for several seasons and is one fish that I dearly wanted to catch when I joined the lake.”
Dan tempted the impressive specimen with a CC Moore Odyssey XXX pop-up soaked in Feedstim XP.
39lb 2oz mirror carp starts winter campaign for Leon Bartropp
Leon Bartropp couldn’t have asked for a better start to his winter campaign, landing this cracking 39lb 2oz mirror from a Kent stillwater.
It was only the Gardner Tackle and Mistral Baits consultant’s second session on the venue and followed the capture of a 33lb 10oz mirror and two mid-twenties a week earlier.
Targeting a silty gulley between two large weedbeds at 40 yards range, Leon offered a 15mm Mistral Baits 4Season pink pop-up hookbait over a scattering of free offerings.
The following morning he received a steady take but was weeded up by the fish early on in the fight. “Everything went solid and for 30 minutes I couldn’t budge it. I kept the pressure on, though, and it eventually popped out of the thick weedbed,” he told Angling Times.
“The rest of the fight was fairly straight forward and once I got it on the bank I recognised as Bruce’s Fish. I was delighted to land this one as it is one of the lake’s ‘A-Team’ and was one of my target fish for the winter,” he added.
Leon put his faith in his favoured multi-rig presentation, which he constructed with 25lb Gardner Chod Skin and a size 4 Chod hook.
Brace of forties from Pavyotts Mill
Danny Pedley enjoyed the ‘session of a lifetime’ at Pavyotts Mill landing five carp including a brace of forties weighing 42lb 6oz and 41lb.
Targeting the Maze Lake at the Somerset complex, the Dorset-based angler also helped himself to fish of 35lb, 32lb 9oz and 28lb 4oz.
All of his carp were taken on the same rod with he had baited with a 12mm Korda Pink Dumbell hookbait on a KD rig inside a solid PVA bag filled with bloodworm pellets.
He said: “It was definitely my best ever session. My previous pb was 34lb and I beat that three times during the trip. The two forties came out on the last day within half an hour of each other.”
28lb mirror highlight of seven fish catch
This cracking 28lb mirror was the highlight of a seven fish haul for Jake Whiting during a recent session on the Grenville syndicate in Cambridgeshire.
The local rod located a number of fish feeding on a fly hatch in an area of the lake off the back of the wind and wasting no time getting his rods out he promptly landed a fish of 22lb 13oz.
The majority of the fish were showing at range, so after a quiet night, Jake heavily baited a spot at 120yds range with a mix of chopped Mainline Hybrid boilies, hemp, grouts, sweetcorn and pellets.
“I thought the carp would be up for a feed so decided to give them a bit of food,” explained Jake.
“The move paid off and over the next couple of days I went on to land four more twenties to 28lb and couple of smaller fish. What a session! It was one I will never forget and it just shows that big beds of bait work and sometimes you just need to sit on your hands and wait for them to turn up,” he added.
Jake mounted pop-up hookbaits on Withy Pool rigs.
Ed Skillz joins Avid
Avid Carp are delighted to announce that renowned Dutch carper Ed Skillz has joined their growing team of Benelux consultants. Ed is an accomplished angler who brings a wealth of carp fishing knowledge to the team.
Avid’s brand manager Jon Jones was delighted to have signed Ed, commenting: "As well as being heavily involved with the development of new products for anglers on the Continent, Ed will also play a large part in the media and marketing of Avid Carp across Europe. Ed brings much more than just angling ability to the table. He’s an extremely skilled photographer, videographer and has a natural flare for directing and editing videos. We’ll certainly be utilising these skills and look forward to working with him on a number of interesting and exciting projects over the coming months. If you haven’t seen any of Ed’s work, head over to www.carpcrossing.com and prepare to be astounded. His work really is out of this world! I’m confident this is going to be the start of a long and productive relationship”.
Ed was also extremely pleased with his new position at Avid Carp commenting:
“Avid Carp is a fast-growing company and I cannot wait to help promote the brand across Europe. I’ve known a number of the team members for a while now and I know I’m going to love working with them. The company is like a large family and everybody is striving for the same end goal. This is very important to me.”
New venue record at Angler's Paradise
The biggest carp ever caught at Anglers Paradise has been banked by Gary Western.
The Exmouth angler took the 43lb 4oz mirror after a frustrating first year on the Kracking Carp Lake at the Devon complex.
Gary, who had banked just two fish from the lake since spring, managed a 34lb 2oz common on the opening night of his three-day session, before hooking into the forty at 10pm on his second evening.
He said: “I still can’t believe I hold the current complex record –it was worth its weight in gold.”
Both fish fell to Mainline Cell boilies.
Farriers giant tempted from hole in weed for Lee Collings
An hour spent searching for spots with his marker rod proved worthwhile for Lee Collings who caught this 39lb 1oz common from the Carp Society’s Farriers Lake in the Cotswold.
With the venue fishing hard and very few carp being caught the midlands-based Century consultant decided to go back to the drawing board and try and find some new areas to target.
“The lake is still very weedy and not showing any signs of dying back yet so after an hour casting a bare lead about with my marker rod I found a small clear spot which looked quite promising next to a thick weed bed,” Lee told Angling Times.
“The area I was fishing is a passing point which the fish use to move to the different parts of the lake. It seems to have a window of opportunity of about 3-4 hours to catch then it seems to be it for the day.”
After baiting his new found spot with 30 broken Mainline Baits Cell boilies he cast a 15mm hookbait tipped with a piece of big buoyant plastic corn on a blow-back rig tied with 25lb ESP Strip Teaze attached to a size 6 ESP Curve Shanx hook.
“The take was really slow and didn’t even pull the line out of the clip and my Stow bobbin didn’t come off either. The fish had weeded me up solid but after walking backwards I managed to get it moving again.
“I knew it was a good fish and the fight seemed to last for an eternity – in reality it was probably no more than five minutes before it rolled in the net.”
