45lb common carp is highlight of 30-year carp career
Darren Hilton hailed this striking common as the highlight of his 30-year carp career.
The immaculate 45-pounder, known as The Major, was caught by the Carp Couture owner at a Kent syndicate water.
He said: “I was just blown away. In my 30 years of carp fishing, I have never caught or seen a creature like this. I feel privileged to have held this stunning carp.”
Darren’s two-night session started slowly but yielded a 31lb 4oz mirror before a 6pm take on the second day produced the big common.
“The fish came in close pretty quickly and on seeing it I knew it was one of the big girls. It looked huge and so long, darting backwards and forwards under my feet in 8ft of gin-clear water. The water is so clear I could see my Mad Baits Wicked White pop-up hanging over the bottom lip. I was really nervous that the fish was hooked lightly, and it continued to make strong heavy runs to the weed bed to my left.
“The fish slowly tired and came up in the water, and a fellow angler slipped the net under her. She pulled the dial around to bang on 45lb and I was dumbstruck.
“It’s the most stunning fish I have ever seen, let alone held. On the bank it is just immense – the length, the shaper, the proportions and the colours are just perfect in my mind.”
89lb catfish tops Catfish Conservation Group fish-in
This 89lb catfish was the biggest fish landed during a recent Catfish Conservation Group fish-in at Oakwood Predator Lakes.
Ten members of the group took part in the event at the Norfolk fishery but it was Stephen Maybank who banked the heaviest specimen using a perch livebait on a Cat-O-Copter rig incorporating 60kg braided mainline and a 60lb hooklink.
Catfish of 72lb, 35lb, 24lb, 22lb and 20lb, along with a double figure pike were also landed by other members during the three day session.
To get involved with the group and to find out more about fishing for this species in the UK please visit www.catfishconservationgroup.co.uk.
Did you catch a record fish and not even realise?
Have you put back a potential British record fish and missed out on a place in the record books?
A string of specimen-sized fish taken in the last few months would have set new benchmarks for the recently-created DNA list if their captors had claimed them. That means the records for roach, rudd and crucian carp are still up for grabs because the British Record Fish Committee (BRFC) are yet to receive any applications.
The new DNA record list was created in 2013 specifically for the above mentioned species which are notorious for hybridising with other fish. Any angler catching a roach or rudd of at least 3lb 12oz, or a 4lb 8oz-plus crucian carp, can claim a new record, provided a scale sample is supplied explained Mike Heylin, chairman of the BRFC.
“Crossing is very prevalent in these three fish and the DNA record list came about because several questions were asked of the current roach record of 4lb 4oz. Unfortunately there was no scale sample so we could only go on photographs and scale counts, and the latter are very similar to rudd. The DNA list was created to find pure lines of fish and it’s also a move forward to save stocks of true crucians,” he said.
Rudd of 4lb 1oz, 4lb and 3lb 15oz 8dr, a 4lb 1oz roach and a 4lb 8oz crucian have been reported to Angling Times since July 2014 - all of which would have qualified as DNA records if a scale had been taken. The original record list is very much still running, albeit separately to the DNA version, which the BRFC deems as the fairest way of singling out a true roach, rudd or crucian with modern technology, according to Mike.
“Crucians most commonly hybridise with brown goldfish but I’ve even seen a crucian-chub hybrid before. Roach and rudd tend to breed with each other or bream, but almost any fish can hybridise with each other if the circumstances are right. In the past anglers have haven’t sent record claims in to us because of the grief they’ve received from others, especially keyboard warriors on social media websites. DNA tests will hopefully put a stop to that as they determine whether a fish is a true example of its species or not, there can be no arguing with one,” he added.
How to claim a record
1) Take several good quality photographs of the fish for identification purposes and to help the panel decide whether the fish is the claimed weight.
2) Check that your scales are accurate. Being inaccurate by just 1oz could be the difference between claiming a record and having it rejected.
3) If the fish is a roach, rudd or crucian, carefully take a scale from it. This will not cause any distress and can easily be achieved with your fingers. Once home, slice the scale in half with a clean blade. Keep half for your records and send the rest off for analysis.
For a full list of procedures visit www.anglingtrust.net
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Trip to the Netherlands results in 4lb 6oz perch
A trip to the Netherlands for a guiding session with Dutch predator ace Willem Stolk paid off for Sussex angler Richard Wesley after landing this personal best 4lb 6oz perch.
Fishing with his compatriots Andrew Blazey, James Garnder and Andrew Lush the foursome landed more than 20 perch over 4lb during the trip which they spent targeting a popular river system near Rotterdam.
Under the watchful eye of Shimano-backed Willem, the group targeted zander and local species such as asp as well as the perch using 5g-14g jigheads and Rapala crank lures.
Biggest bream of the year caught
The biggest bream of the year has been banked in the form of this whopping 18lb-plus specimen.
It was caught by specimen carp angler Dan Bruton from an unnamed midlands gravel pit which was not previously known for producing big bream. It tipped the scales at exactly 18lb 4oz, a new personal best for Dan who was targeting one of the venues known big carp when the fish took his hair-rigged Trent Baits freshwater shrimp boilie.
Fishing a deepish swim at range, Korda, Trent Baits and Cutting Edge sponsored Dan fed a sizeable helping of Cutting Edge caramel crunch mixed particles along with trout pellets before casting a multi rig incorporating a 20lb N-trap hooklink, a size 6 wide-gape hook and a lead clip with 12 inches of dark matter tubing into his swim. Dan told Angling Times: “It was an impressive old dark beast and a fish I am very pleased with considering I’m a carp angler as it has come from a venue where they arent known to run to this size.”
14lb 11oz barbel caught from Derbyshire Derwent
The Derbyshire Derwent has produced numerous personal bests this season - and it threw up another one to Dale Moore when he netted this 14lb 11oz barbel.
During a short three hour session he presented a legered halibut pellet over a small bed of freebies and received the all-important bite halfway through the trip.
“I’m delighted at landing such a fish and my next target is either a big carp or a 15lb-plus barbel from the venue,” said Dale, who used a 20lb braided hooklink to a size 10 hook.
Angling's future is in your hands
The sport’s governing body is urging anglers to help reshape the future of fishing by getting involved in a new research project.
Officials at the Angling Trust have ploughed time and resources into numerous campaigns since the outfit’s creation in 2009 but they are now giving people the chance to have their say on what issues they think should be the next focus.
An online questionnaire has been launched, with members and non-members alike being canvassed for their opinion on a range of topics. The feedback will then be analysed before it is used to help build an action-plan for the year ahead.
Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd is at the forefront of the investigation. He said: “It’s been five years since we launched and we believe this is the ideal time to take stock of things and see how we are performing.
“We want to know what matters to anglers and then take appropriate action to see that those issues are addressed.”
Two years ago the National Angling Survey was run in conjunction with the Environment Agency, with almost 30,000 people giving their views and Mark is confident the latest move can be a similar success story.
He added: “Poaching, predation and pollution were three of the biggest issues back then and we have worked hard since to improve the situation on all those fronts.
“We now want to reassess what matters to anglers. We can assure them that their feedback will not be swept under the carpet and ignored but will instead play an important part in planning the route ahead.”
To have your say visit www.anglingtrust.net/membershipsurvey
WHAT YOU THINK
We asked fans of the Angling Times Facebook page what they believed the biggest issues dogging the sport are:
John Hunt - Cormorants are the biggest problem by a mile.
Eric Bradford – Poaching is a massive issue.
Louise Monk - Lack of interest from younger generations and predation.
Chrissy Charles – We need more education for anglers.
Ringwood Tackle – Predation, more specifically otters.
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Two fish for over 98lb from Wellington Country Park
Two fish for more than 98lb saw Darren Belton’s run of form at Wellington Country Park continue in stunning fashion.
The Greys-backed angler caught a new pb at 51lb 12oz and banked a 46lb 12oz mirror in the same session at the exclusive Berkshire syndicate water. The fish came from the same spot where Darren snared a 45lb ghost carp just weeks earlier.
He said: “I arrived at the lake at Sunday lunchtime and soon had 3kg of Mainline Hybrid boilies Spombed to the spot, followed by my usual Hybrid and micro-pop-up snowman rig, one rod either side of the freebies.
“The first night passed without event, and after a few hours wandering around, I decided to stay put, topped up the spot, then rested the swim until early evening. At about 5am the next morning a blistering take resulted in a stunning 46lb 12oz mirror. I was already buzzing but the best was still to come.
“Mid-morning I repeated the previous day’s activity and recast the hookbaits at 5pm. Six hours later a funny take had me in my waders and as it flat-rodded me and stripped 50 yards of line from my spool in the process I realised this was a special fish.
“Twice more it went on huge, powerful runs and when it finally went in the net my legs were like jelly. I flicked on the head torch and peered in to be met by the big common, and it looked huge! As we hoisted her up on the scales I knew all my dreams had come true. It still hasn’t sunk in!”
1lb dace caught from urban Kent waterway
Big fish angler Iain McDonald took a break from catching specimen tench and carp to target his local river - and was rewarded with a number of dace topped by this 1lb fish.
The Kent-based rod arrived at an urban stretch of the waterway and setup a simple stick float rig with strung out shot and a size 18 hook before feeding his swim with loose-fed maggots. Within a few casts he was catching dace to over 10oz using double maggot hookbaits before slipping the net under the prized specimen.
15lb barbel and 7lb chub in one session from River Avon
Nigel Kennard made a triumphant return to the Hampshire Avon with the capture of a personal best 15lb 10oz barbel and a pb equalling 7lb 1oz chub.
The 35-year-old postman from Bellingham, London hadn’t fished the venue for three years until last month. Arriving at a stretch in the middle reaches of the waterway he looked in several swims before spotting a shoal of a dozen big chub.
“I’d been watching them for 10 minutes when I saw a massive barbel on a small gravel patch close in,” he said. “I decided to bait the swim with just a PVA bag of crushed Carp Company boilies and 4mm and 6mm pellets as I’d noticed barbel spooking off big beds of bait.”
An hour after casting out a 14mm boilie hookbait on a size 8 ESP D7 hook and 12lb Sink Link hooklength he received a powerful bite with line ripped off his reel as the fished headed for a weedy shallow patch downstream.
“I was able to turn him and pumped him upstream where it then plodded around under the rod tip for a couple of minutes. I could clearly see how big it was and knew it was going to be close to my old pb of 15lb 3oz.”
After releasing his prize he fed the swim with six boilies every 20 minutes for two hours in a bid to get the chub to feed and scaled down his tackle to a 10lb hooklink and size 10 hook with a 1oz running lead.
“I got my second bite of the day just after dark and could tell straight away that it was a chub. It went in the net without any hassle and as I lifted the net up I could tell it was a massive fish. I weighed it a 7lb 1oz which equalled my Hants Avon chub best.”
Nigel rounded off the session with three more chub weighing 6lb 10oz, 6lb 2oz and 5lb 15oz.
W.C. Bradley Co. buy Preston Innovations
One of the country’s most popular tackle companies has been purchased by W.C. Bradley Co..
Preston Innovations is the UK’s leading match fishing brand and has rapidly grown its presence in the coarse, carp and bait markets with its sister brands Korum, Avid Carp and Sonubaits.
The sale was completed last Tuesday although terms of the purchase were not released.
David Preston, founder and owner of Preston Innovations, said: “I am extremely proud of the business we have built, but felt we had reached a size and complexity which were better suited to a new owner who could exploit the clear growth potential of Preston Innovations in Europe and beyond."
Jeff Pontius, President of W.C. Bradley Co.'s worldwide fishing business said, “I couldn’t be more pleased that David chose us to continue building the Preston Innovations brands. We have been looking to expand in Europe, and in particular have been looking for a premier player in the match and carp segments. Preston Innovations is one of the leading tackle businesses in the UK and we see great potential for growth in its home market as well as in much of Europe. The team at Preston Innovations has a lot of passion for building their brands and we will be there to support that growth.”
Lady angler banks UK's biggest common at 63lb 4oz
A return to fishing after a lay off with ill health brought Leanne Jaynes the biggest common carp in the country.
The 63lb 4oz specimen, known as Lee Jackson, fell to the experienced carper at Kent’s Strawbery Fields.
“I am completely overwhelmed at what I have caught,” said Leanne, “I have caught so many fine carp and other species from around the country but this tops the list by far and is something I will always remember fondly.”
Recalling the bite at the day-ticket venue, she added: “On Saturday night at 11pm I had a couple of bleeps and then a belting run on my right-hand rod. After what seemed to be forever, but in real time was only 25 minutes, I managed to get the fish in my net. When I looked inside to see my prize I was a shocked at the size and girth of the magnificent animal that lay in my net.”
Leanne first banked the Lee Jackson fish 17 years ago and has since caught it at weights of 20lb, 30lb and 42lb.
She said: “I first caught it way back in 1997 when I first started fishing here at Strawberry Fields. In those days we had great times catching and watching the fish grow so quickly. It’s almost unbelievable how this little lake has grown on so many huge fish!”
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Competition winners bag up with Des Taylor
Competition winners Stuart Jessop and Phil McGuire made the most of a day’s fishing with Des Taylor with several fine barbel from the River Severn near Bewdley, Worcs.
Using open-end feeder gear with scalded pellets, the two anglers from Lincoln and Sheffield and were delighted with their efforts from a tough, low river affected by foam on the water.
“They were proper river anglers who fished really well,” said Des, who had offered the prize of a day’s fishing with him exclusively to Angling Times readers. All the fish fell to fish-based boilies.
Best ever year for river fishing
‘The nation’s rivers are in their best form for over a decade’. That’s the verdict from a series of top angling coaches and match organisers who have seen bookings rocket this season.
Commercial fisheries have taken the limelight in recent years as a result of the prolific sport and modern facilities but a number of factors have now led to large numbers of anglers returning to natural venues.
Over 1,000 tickets for RiverFest tournament qualifiers were snapped up within a week of going on sale, with attendances also increasing drastically at open and club events.
The spike has left many surprised but Angling Times columnist Dave Harrell believes it was only a matter of time before the crowds came flooding back. He said: “The people I coach are often shocked at what they can catch on a river and can’t get enough of that type of fishing from then on.
“People are getting bored of commercials and with the UK’s rivers in top form they offer a very different, yet equally rewarding, challenge.
“There is no doubt running waters had a period in the doldrums and venues such as the Don and Mersey were badly polluted but they’ve recovered and they are once again at their peak,” he added.
Professional tutor and England international Mark Pollard has spent more time than ever before on running water and he told Angling Times: “I offer anglers the opportunity to enjoy coaching at any type of venue and I’ve had the highest amount of requests I’ve ever had for river venues this season.
“Almost every river is improving and this is drawing back a lot of people who thought they’d never fish on one again,” he added.
Committee members of river-orientated clubs have also seen a marked increase in permit sales. Yorkshire’s Mirfield AC is amongst those experiencing a boom in popularity and match secretary Martyn Highe said: “Our membership numbers are up almost 20 per cent this year and people are travelling hundreds of miles to fish our waters.”
“In one of the last matches on the River Calder, 28 anglers had double figures of silverfish so it’s easy to see why we are seeing more and more new faces.”
For more details on expert river tuition visit www.daveharrellangling.com or www.markpollardfishingdays.com
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New personal best common with 34lb 15oz fish from Sandhurst
Kev Rogerson set a new personal-best common with this 34lb 15oz chunk from Sandhurst Lake in Hampshire.
The Sunderland angler took advantage of working in the area to fish a series of overnighters on the day-ticket venue.
He said: “I don’t seem to catch many commons of late so I was well happy with this new UK pb common, beating my old best by just over a pound.”
Kev fed 2kg of chopped DNA Baits S7 boilies over light weed at 80 yards and used rigs made with 25lb PB Jelly Wire and size 6 Drennan Continental hooks.
Angling Times rod prize lands a surprise 4lb ide
A session on the River Calder threw up this surprise 4lb 13oz ide for Greg Redmond, using a rod and reel combo he won in Angling Times 14 years ago!
Targeting his local stretch of the Yorkshire waterway at Brighouse for chub, he thought he had hooked his target species on a maggot feeder rig. However closer inspection revealed the culprit to be an ide - a species which originates from Scandinavia and is only stocked into stillwaters in this country, although a few have escaped into our rivers over time.
“I’ve heard of a 6lb ide being caught here once before and I had it on a 4lb hooklength and a size 16 Animal hook, using a Shimano Stradic 4000 reel and Technium Specialist rod I won in Angling Times in 2000. I got the prize for catching a pair of 2lb roach. It’s the best rod and reel I’ve ever used!” he said.
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Wigan win Division 2 National
Angling Trust Division Two National 2014
Leeds-Liverpool Canal, Wigan (31 teams)
Fished on their home water, there would have been a very stern examination of what went wrong if Wigan MG hadn’t come away from this National with at the very least a team medal but the Lancashire side lived up to their pre-match favourites billing to lift the silver trophy with a 273 point score, 28 clear of Sensas North West with Middy Dams & Lock finishing with 235 points.
However, even they were aware that being armed with up to date information and bags of experience on the canal would count for nothing if the draw dealt them some of the tough pegs on the match length, which even they admitted would see them struggle to come away with decent points.
Thankfully, the bag dealt only one worrying draw and only one of the 10 man team finished outside of the top six in their sections, the Wigan scorecard including section wins for Danny Martin and Kev Clarke plus seconds for Dave Edgerley and Ant Marsden, who was the angler that has drawn that hard peg but which he made short work of!
“We put a lot of time in and know the canal like the back of our hands and we knew that we set off as favourites as all through the practice matches people were telling us we’d win no trouble at all,” said winning captain Danny Martin. “We tried to play it down a bit because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the lads. We knew we could win it and if we got a reasonable draw we’d do fine but that was my worry because the canal has a lot of bad areas that you just can’t do anything with, no matter how well you know the place.”
“After the draw we gathered round and went through what we had and worked out whether to fish for big fish, whether to use hemp and even if eels would play a part,” Danny continued. “We had one bad peg in F section but had the right man on the peg. Ant Marsden knows the canal better than most and can catch big bonus fish when needed, which was certainly the case here. He weighed in a bream and a big perch fishing lobworm to the far bank stick ups and came second in the section, which was a brilliant result from what could have been a disaster of a peg.”
Elsewhere, Wigan broke the match length down into three distinct areas. Sections A, B and C were all about catching skimmers and bream as there were few small fish and that meant fishing breadpunch for the first half hour as this is when the better fish normally showed and then changing to caster or squatt to drain every last fish from the peg.
“The remaining sections were about small fish work with groundait, squatt, pinkie and maggot plus a hemp line for roach, which we turned into a bread line later on when the hemp went off,” Danny revealed. “We felt that sections D to H would be fine for bites but that J and K would be tough because they’d been bad in practice. The problem was that on top of three opens a week, the canal has four 100 peg practice matches on it as well and that’s a lot of pressure, which can see a venue change a lot. That’s where experience came in as we see the place change through the year and know how to adapt.”
Eels came into play on sections D and E fishing worm down the middle mainly to rest other lines, the main catching area being at 13m where two balls of groundbait were fed at the start. Small skimmer, roach and perch were the targets after an opening blast on a big piece of breadpunch to look for a bream. Hemp was then used as another option to catch a bigger stamp of fish.
“In terms of weights, each section was different and on A, B and C we agreed on 1.5 kilos a man, upped to nearer 2 kilos on the middle sections and then a kilo on J and K,” Danny added. “There were some very, very good canal teams fishing and that’s why I didn’t think we’d have it all our own way. Liverpool fish the canal all the time as do Sensas North West and Team Eclipse are an experienced canal team so I expected all of them to push us close and even win if we weren’t on our game. Winning by 30-odd points seems a lot but that’s only three points per section and that’s nothing really – an odd skimmer or perch here and there.”
Team result: 1 Wigan MG, 273pts; 2 Sensas North West, 245; 3 Middy Dams & Lock, 235; 4 Winterton AC, 221; 5 Browning Northants, 214; 6 Maver Coleman’s Bait & Tackle/Matchpack, 211; 7 Matrix Halifax, 206; 8 Team Eclipse, 201; 9 Tri-Cast Rochdale, 198; 10 Matlock AC, 196.
There was a convincing win on the individual front as Eclipse AC man Perry Follows strolled to the gold medal with 13-400 of bream from peg A5 at Seneca, almost 10 kilos clear of runner-up John Boyko and he used some local knowledge to help him on his way to victory fishing pellets rather than the more usual worms and casters.
Drawing on the same section that he’d caught just over 1lb of little fish from in practice a few weeks earlier, the Rugeley man was fearing the worst once again but as he pushed his barrow past that peg there was relief and then excitement as he arrived at A5 to find far bank lily pads and a fishy-looking peg.
“I had a chat to one of the stewards who was a local lad while I was getting ready and he told me that there were always bream living close to the pads and that I had a chance, which pepped me up no end,” Perry said. “I kicked off on the team plan fishing squatt at 5m and caught a few perch but it slowed down after 45 minutes so I went across, where I always thought I’d catch the bulk of my fish anyway. I’d put in two lines up against the pads at 13m on top of the shelf in about 2.5ft of water, one at 10 0’clock with chopped worm and caster and the other at 2 o’clock where I fed micro pellets and casters. I half thought about groundbait here but decided to play it safe to begin with.”
The chopped worm line produced a few more small perch but some bubbles on the other long pole swim prompted Perry to change and fishing a 4mm expander pellet on the hook, he connected with a bream on his first drop in, which promptly saw him off in the lily pads! That saw him pick up a heavier rig and he never looked back!
“This rig had a 6-8 elastic, 0.11mm line straight through and a size 18 hook and I never lost another fish,” Perry explained. “I’d thought about fishing worm and maggot bit the steward told me that the bream on the canal love pellets and I had some with me as we’d seen this as a team in practice. I did change to a redworm later on as the pellet seemed to go off and this gave me five fish which were a bigger stamp, up to 3lb as well.”
“I could see the fish blowing all-day and after losing the first one, there’s always the fear of having ruined the peg but on the next put in I caught a 12oz skimmer, which was a big settler,” he continued. “The first bream arrived after around 15 minutes and it then took roughly 10 minutes between fish but when a bite came, you couldn’t miss it – it sailed away! The water was painfully clear though and I could see the bream when I hooked them but the shoal stayed put throughout and only in the last hour did it go completely dead.”
By then though, Perry had done the damage with a dozen bream between 2lb and 3lb, that skimmer and the perch, runner-up John being sat further along the section on A28 where he took a more typical canal net of 4-140.
Individual result: 1 P Follows, Team Eclipse, 13-440; 2 J Boyko, Winterton AC, 4-140; 3 G Robinson, Winterton AC, 3-800; 4 S Johansen, Team Eclipse, 3-590; 5 T Foster, Middy Dams & Lock, 3-380; 6 M Derry, Middy Dams & Lock, 3-340.
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53lb 4oz Dave ends great summer for Kev Hewitt
The fish he really wanted to catch fell to Kev Hewitt at the end of his incredible summer at Swan Lake on the Bluebell complex.
The England international has torn the venue apart this year, including catching a brace of forties, but was desperate to catch Dave, the 50lb mirror.
That moment arrived last week when the Swindon rod put the net under his target fish at 53lb 4oz. Kev’s two-night session also featured three twenties and fish of 30lb 14oz, 33lb 10oz and 34lb 12oz.
“It’s a new personal best and the best session I’ve ever had,” said the Hinders store manager.
“I got into the swim late on Sunday and fished the same spot I fished on bank holiday weekend. I had six fish then and the spot had been polished clean. There were fish showing in front of me on Sunday afternoon but then I never saw another show after that, so they must have got their heads down.
“The first take was the big one, just before first light on Monday morning. It weeded me up and I jumped in the boat and managed to get it free. It then plodded around and gave a good battle. When it got up on the surface I didn’t think it was that big, but it looked like Dave. I had a little chuckle to myself and thought ‘it’s miniature Dave, I’ve caught a smaller version of Dave’.
“I was still chuckling to myself when I got it back to the swim and then realised I couldn’t lift it. I realised ‘that’s not a miniature Dave, it is Dave!’. It was as though I couldn’t believe I had caught that fish.”
Kev baited with CC Moore Equinox boilies, sweetcorn and hemp, and fished Equinox pop-ups on hinged stiff rigs made with short ESP readymade chod rigs.
Second huge rudd at Buckland for Neill Stephen
Neill Stephen came agonisingly close to breaking the magical 4lb-barrier for the second time in just over a month with this 3lb 15oz 8dr rudd.
The London-based former Drennan Cup champion was targeting the specimen fish stocks of Buckland Lake Reserve Fishery in Kent and was accompanied by wildlife artist David Miller who was looking for inspiration for a new rudd painting.
“By the early afternoon the lake was beginning to resemble the North Sea with white caps rolling into the bank,” he told Angling Times. “While moving around I had caught a few two-pounders but then in the mid-afternoon in a new swim the float buried into a wave and after a simply unbelievable fight that left me thinking I had hooked a carp a massive rudd appeared. Incredibly the digital scales read 4lb again but there was the occasional flicker to 3lb15oz so we called it at 3lb 15oz 8dr. It was fairly surreal to catch one fish of around this size but to catch two has left me feeling jinxed in the best possible way especially as the rudd fishing on the Main Lake has been very difficult recently.”
Neill tempted the impressive specimen with a grain of sweetcorn fished under a custom reed waggler made by Andrew Field.
World's best haul of carp
A British angler has secured the world’s biggest haul of carp with two fish over 90lb and an 87-pounder in the same session.
Warren Harrison’s haul included mirrors of 94lb and 87lb, plus a new living world-record common of 90lb. He also landed seven 50-pounders and a 70lb mirror.
The 52-year-old company owner achieved the astonishing feat during a trip to the once-secretive Euro Aqua in Hungary. The lake, which produced a world-record 101lb mirror in 2012, has only been open to UK anglers since late last year.
Warren and angling partner Dave Treasure set out for a big hit and baited with huge amounts of boilies, particles and pellets. Between them they deposited 700kg of bait into the 27-acre venue and caught an average of more than six fish a day during their two-week session.
Manchester angler Warren, whose previous pb was a 78lb common from France’s Rainbow Lake, ended up with 58 fish in total. Dave’s finally tally of 63 fish included three seventies to 76lb and four sixties.
“It’s like nothing else I’ve seen before,” said Warren, who has fished in Europe for 20 years, “the fish are just eating machines.
“On the first day we had 10 fish between us and they just kept coming. At one point, Dave was looking at our list and said ‘we are on 99 fish, we only need one more for 100’, and half an hour later the rod ripped off with the 90lb common.
“It took 25 minutes to land and it was just so long – too big for the 42ins net. The margins are 10ft deep and the fish stay so deep until you eventually see some swirls of their tails – and when they surface, your eyes pop out!”
The big common was caught at 78lb last November and Warren is convinced all the stock will continue growing. He said: “They look like young fish and are in great condition, so I’m sure they will only get bigger.”
Remarkably, Warren fished British-style tactics at 90 yards with 15lb line straight through to 4oz leads and snowman rigs using size 4 and 6 hooks. His end tackle was all made by Avid and he baited with Sonubaits Code Red boilies, Cutting Edge particles and pellets from Carp Fever in Droylsden.
“I’m over the moon,” he said, “I’m still not quite sure what I’ve done!”
SESSION IN NUMBERS
121: total fish caught by Dave and Warren in two weeks
700: kilos of bait used by the pair
60: number of fish over 40lb banked by Dave and Warren
27: hours it took them to drive home
5: tonnes of bait added to the lake by the owner during the fortnight
1: number of times Warren fell in while striking a bite
