Spomb inventor bags a best 52lb 8oz mirror
The man behind the Spomb has achieved a new personal best with this 52lb 8oz mirror.
Bryan Broughton, who invented the popular bait rocket that takes its name from a mixture of spod and bomb, caught the fish after setting up in heavy rain after dark at a syndicate water in Essex.
Bryan used Mainline boilies and tamed the big mirror on a Free Spirit rod.
First forty joy at Brasenose Two
A day-ticket water famed for its multiple catches of doubles and twenties has produced its first 40-pounder.
Brasenose Two on the Linear Fisheries site in Oxfordshire threw up the mirror at exactly 40lb to Edd Pearson as part of a seven-fish haul.
The Leicestershire angler, who was fishing with two friends, said: “It’s my new pb and an experience that will stay with me for a lifetime.”
Edd and his two friends set up next to each other in the teeth of a warm wind and drew for swims. Picking peg 22, Edd found a steep drop-off at 50 yards and decided to fish on the shelf.
He said: “I put about a gallon and a half of maggots out with the Spomb then flicked the rods out tight on the spot. With fish showing all the time I thought I couldn’t fail.
“As the last rod hit the water the wind died and I knew the fish were gone. After a still and uneventful night and following morning I called the missus, head in hands, saying I have a feeling this could be uneventful trip.
“I fell back to sleep and awoke around lunchtime to a strong wind pushing down the lake. A few minutes later I was away and landed a mid-double fully scaled beauty.”
Having caught three more fish to 25 that day, Edd kept the bait going in. Despite temporarily knocking himself unconscious after slipping over during the night, Edd baited heavily during darkness and continued to pick up fish as dawn broke. The 40-pounder picked up his middle rod just as he was dealing with another fish.
“It was a violent take and as I bent into it I knew it was something big as I couldn't stop it. After a 20-minute battle in which it snagged me once it was finally ready for the net.”
Edd presented plastic maggots on a clip attached to a size 4 Korda Krank hook.
British dace record shaker from the River Test
The River Test comes in to its silverfish peak at this time of year and Bryan Jarrett made the most of it when he caught this 1lb 2oz specimen.
Fishing the waterway under the guidance of big fish enthusiast Andy Little, the Hinders of Swindon boss used a maggot feeder attack with an 0.13mm hooklength to a size 18 hook.
Roach, grayling and even the occasional sea trout fell foul to the tactic before dace of just over 1lb and the biggest of the session invaded the swim.
“The current British record stands at 1lb 5oz and I think this fish could break that later this winter,” explained Bryan.
Brace of 3lb-plus perch from Southampton venue
This cracking brace of perch weighing 3lb 14oz and 3lb 10oz were caught by Andy Cribb during a six hour session at a venue in Sholing near Southampton.
The local rod used groundbait feeders filled with Van Den Eynde Expo groundbait mixed with lake water and Predator Plus liquid and laced with maggots, casters, chopped worm and CC Moore frozen bloodworm.
This was cast out in conjunction with a lobworm hookbait and he also landed a further eight specimens over the 2lb-barrier.
Grafham yields personal-best 3lb perch
A first time visit to Cambridgeshire’s Grafham Water resulted in this stunning 3lb 11oz personal best perch for young specimen angler Ollie Jenkinson.
Fishing with his boat partner Tom Finney, the pair anchored up close to one of the towers on the 1,500 acre Cambridgeshire venue and started off jigging for perch and zander.
With no action by midday, the Bedfordshire-based rod decided to switch to a drop shotted Berkley Power Bait Minnow and completed the set-up with a 4ft Fox Rage Illusion fluorocarbon leader and 14lb braided mainline.
He said: “On my third drop down I hooked into a hefty weight that dived down towards the bottom. After an exciting scrap I watched as a huge dorsal broke the surface and a pb perch was netted. I can’t wait to get back out there for another go now.”
240 pints of bait used in one session!
An incredible 160 pints of maggots and 80 pints of casters helped Lee Collings to bank this 41lb 9oz common from Linear Fisheries.
The 72-hour session on St John’s also feature other carp of 33lb 8oz, 27lb 9oz, 23lb and 20lb, along with two double-figure catfish.
Lee said: “I had decided to do something different from the norm and take 20 gallon of maggots and 10 gallon of casters, which cost me a small fortune as I had to pay for all my bait – no freebies!”
The Phat Fish-backed angler, who was shooting a promotional video for the clothing company at the time, fished at the far end of the Social Bank and targeted a raised weedy hump at 45 yards.
“I baited up with four gallons of maggots and casters to start with to hopefully let the fish clear the spot and topped the area up on a regular basis.
“The action started straight away with a two catfish and I was worried they might have spooked the carp out of the area. However, I was relieved when my next bite turned out to be a 27lb 9oz mirror.
“My next take a few hours later turned out to be The big common at 41lb 9oz – job done! The next 24 hours produced three other fish and I blanked for the final 24 hours even though I had fish showing over me. Unfortunately the spot was being ripped up and the fish were covering my rigs in weed making them infective. So all in all it was a good but frustrating session.”
Lee used size 4 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hooks on long hooklinks and white Mainline Cell pop-ups topped with pink Evolution Maggotball Clusters.
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Catch carp... in your lounge!
Anglers can now get their hands the most realistic fishing computer simulator ever made.
Dovetail Games Fishing has drawn on the expertise of the some of the biggest names in the sport to ensure the experience is a close to being on the bank as possible.
The game will see players tackle every step in the fishing experience. Once they’ve selected their tackle and rigs they will use a new intuitive casting and reeling mechanism called ‘Total Cast Control’ to test their skills by finding, baiting, catching and landing the fish.
The developers have worked in partnership with Essex-based tackle giants, Korda, who have provided their expert knowledge.
Dovetail brand manager and keen carp angler, Darren Nokes, said: “Everything from casting to how the fish fight and sound effects to the bankside environments have been taken in to account."
He also revealed that he will be meeting with Sparsholt college lecturer Simon Scott to ensure the fish behaviour within the game replicates real-life and that plans are in place to recreate some of the top carp lakes in UK and Europe.
“Once we’ve got the licencing agreements sorted we can make the accurately recreate the lakes – even to the extent, for example, that gravel bars etc will be in the same place. We will also include each lake’s main target fish and their weights will even reflect what they should be at certain times of the year and after spawning.”
He added: “As well as providing an opportunity for fishing fans to practice fishing when it’s not possible outdoors, one of our aims is to encourage more people to get into real fishing through playing our game.”
The game has now been released in Early Access mode which allows users to play the first phases of the game for just £4.99. They will then receive each accompanying phase – there will be seven in total – for free resulting in a large saving of completed game retail price expected to be around £29.99.
Darren explained: “People who purchase the Early Access will be able to give us their feedback and work with the development team which all helps to ultimately create the best possible experience for players.”
**To try the game for yourself visit: www.dtgfishing.com and keep an eye out in Angling Times for further news about the game.**
49lb mirror caught for first time in two years
This distinctive mirror had not been caught for two years before in-form Rob Burrage finally tripped it up.
The 49lb 6oz fish came from Kent’s Wingham syndicate, where Rob had a venue-record 54lb 12oz mirror last month. His latest mirror had evaded capture since 2012 and has put on 5lb since its last time on the bank.
Rob said: "This is my second fantastic fish in three weeks and obviously I'm delighted. However, I'm genuinely not surprised at the size they reach at Wingham because when we pull the weed out on work parties it contains so much natural food the weed tries to crawl back in!"
The 43-yearold from Sevenoaks targeted a spot just 15 yards out and baited lightly with GLM Sausage Oil boilies from Shoreline Baits. He presented an S2 pop-up from Specialized Hookbaits on a size 6 G-Force straight-point hook tied to G-Force Blackout.
Wingham boss Steve Burke said: "We've already had both a 50lb-plus English common and mirror this year. Hopefully we'll have a third fifty by next spring."
Pair of 50lb-plus carp in just two trips
Two short sessions totalling seven hours gave Gary Spencer two fifties.
The Premium Carp Fishing boss had been baiting a spot for two weeks, but timed his angling time to perfection during the morning sessions on consecutive days.
The fish, both mirrors, weighed 50lb 13oz and 52lb 6oz and came from a large north Cambridgeshire gravel pit.
Gary said: “On the Sunday morning I did a short three-hour session and caught the smaller of the two fish, which I had previously banked in 2010.
“The fish was caught on my own PCF Coco Fruit boilies from a swim I had pre-baited for two weeks. The spot was 30 yards out on the slope of a gravel bar.
“On Monday morning I did a four-hour session and had the 52lb 6oz mirror. I first caught this fish in 2002 at 32lb, although I have photographed it for other anglers at over 40lb and 50lb. This one had eluded me for a long time!”
Both fish fell to blowback rigs, with the first carp taking a Coco Fruit bottom bait and the second falling to the soon-to-be-released PCF Squidly Diddly boilies.
Big week for barbel topped by new Severn record
A huge 16lb 11oz River Severn record barbel has been caught this week by Kevin Gittins during an evening session.
It smashed the previous river record by 6oz and took over 25 minutes to land after picking up Kevin’s double boilie hookbait.
“It ripped 40 metres off braid off my reel and then fought like a big carp for around 15 minutes until everything went solid as it found a snag,” Kevin told Angling Times.
“I put the rod back in the rest and thankfully after a few minutes the fish started to take line again, and gave me a second chance. After what felt like an age I flicked the head torch on as I felt the fish was about to break the surface and that’s when the adrenaline really kicked in.
“When it went into the net I let out an almighty gasp and slumped back into my old chair - I couldn’t believe that the fish that I’d been after for over 14 years was sitting in the bottom of my landing net.”
Patience also paid off for Ian Grant who had to endure several blank sessions before slipping the net under a 16lb 8oz River Loddon barbel.
The Twyford and District Angling Club head bailiff tempted the huge fish using his own homemade bait after pre-baiting a swim every other night for over a week.
A jubilant Ian said: “I'd been blanking for several sessions in a swim a few hundred yards upstream of where I caught it as this is where they usually are but luckily I had been baiting another swim which I moved to and it paid off.”
Ian beat his prize with a running leger setup comprising 18ins of Sufix Black Silt tied to 12lb Berkley Big Game mainline.
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Shock 40lb park lake pike
A £2.50 a day park lake has thrown up a shock 40lb pike for a novice predator angler.
In a classic case of beginner’s luck, Rob Hall landed the massive specimen from Ringwood Lake in Chesterfield, having only fished for the species a handful of times before. The 28-year-old local man was targeting the council-owned venue for the first time in over a decade, having previously fished there for silverfish as a teenager.
He told Angling Times that the needle of his scales wouldn’t settle between 42lb and 43lb, with a 2lb 8oz net in place, so he settled on an intermediate weight of 40lb exactly.
“I was in total shock as the best pike I’d had before was about 5lb, this is the biggest fish I’ve ever caught and probably ever will! It had a massive head in relation to its body and I was physically shaking as I removed the hooks. I’m a bit gutted I didn’t get a better picture as I had to take it myself using the self-timer setting on my phone. I usually fish with my mate at weekends but I had a day free midweek and decided to go fishing, it’s typical I catch a fish of a lifetime while he wasn’t there to help,” he said.
Rob reported that he had heard of pike between 20lb and 30lb being caught from the venue, but nothing of this size.
Legering a hand-sized roach tight to a bed of lilies over a few pieces of chopped mackeral he received a positive take at about 12.30pm, with his bite alarm registering two bleeps before line started steadily peeling off the spool. But when he set his size 10 treble hooks he had no idea how big the fish he was attached to was.
He added: “I’ve had 10lb carp go off better than this but I suppose I’m not really used to pike yet. It took 10 minutes to get her towards the bank and then another five minutes to get her in the net because she kept making runs in the margins. My rig was a basic leger rig with 25lb braid and a strong wire trace. I’m genuinely still in shock!”
**Please note, day tickets for the venue can only be purchased in advance from local tackle shops, not on the bank.**
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History is made with capture of 95lb common
Mark Ryder became the first angler in history to bank two carp over 90lb from as many countries when he battled a 95lb giant into his landing net.
The big fish fanatic and bailiff at the famous Drayton Reservoir in Northants, was fishing Hungary’s Euro Aqua and struck into the new personal best when it took a critically-balanced John Baker hookbait fished at 130 yards from the bank.
It took Mark 40 minutes to beat the fish into the net with a ‘KD rig’ incorporating a size 6 hook and the huge specimen beats his previous best that was a huge 92lb mirror banked from Luke Moffat’s Graviers fishery in France in 2011.
“I can’t express how made up I am about this capture as I love to travel and target the world’s biggest carp and now I have two from as many countries, which is a hell of an achievement,” Mark told Angling Times.
“There were a few hairy moments in the fight as it really went like a demon, but I guess it was just meant to be.”
To watch the video of the incredible capture use this link: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IWTxdCzw5NE
39lb common carp from former Cardiff dock
Taking a gamble and starting a campaign earlier than anticipated paid off for Darren Charman when he netted this stunning 39lb common from a former dock in Cardiff.
The Nash field tester had been baiting two areas at Atlantic Wharf with 20mm Scopex Squid Red boilies and had planned to keep feeding for at least another week before opening his account.
But perfect conditions one evening left Darren unable to resist the temptation any longer and an overnight stint was quickly pencilled in.
High winds of over 40mph battered his brolly during the session but enduring the uncomfortable weather proved worthwhile.
“Amazingly the fish was in the net within seconds, but once I looked down it truly was a sight to behold,” explained Darren.
“The venue is an old shopping dock of around 30 acres and it was once joined to the sea. It is getting a lot of attention at the moment - probably due to it being home to a near 40lb common.”
His successful rig incorporated a 15lb ‘combi link’, a 2oz lead and a size 6 Nash Fang hook that was finished with a 20 mm Nash Monster Squid boilie topped with a pineapple pop-up.
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Target fish at 41lb 4oz for Steve Spurgeon
Catching a fish that is top of your hit list is not an easy feat but Steve Spurgeon achieved just that when he banked The Shy from an Essex syndicate lake at 41lb 4oz.
A thorough analysis of his swim helped locate a gravel patch 55 yards out and he introduced 200 Mainline Cell boilies and 50 Essential IB’s over the spot.
The Fox employee has been on the hunt for the elusive specimen for a long period of time and was finally able to scratch it off his target list when it fell for a Mainline IB pop-up boilie.
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450 miles for a new barbel personal best
Marcus Weaver broke his personal best barbel twice in the space of six weeks after making a second 450-mile round trip to the River Trent.
Weighing 15lb 4oz, the Three Foot Twitch consultant’s latest fish beat his previous best of 14lb 4oz which was landed from the same venue the last time he visited back in September. The South Wales rod tempted the fish using a 3FT 14mm dubby boilie baited on a size 10 Fox Ssc Arma point hook after feeding his swim with loose dubby boilies as an attractant. His setup consisted of Diawa sensor 15lb line with a 15lb Kryston Incognito fluorocarbon combi rig with 15lb ESP camo sink link braid.
“I drive over the Wye, Taff and Severn during my journey, but I have tunnel vision when it comes to the Trent because it’s just an incredible fishery that has so much potential,” said Marcus.
“My jaw hit the floor when the dial of my scales swug around to 15lb 4oz and it makes the 450-mile round trip like a walk in the park.”
New personal best pike for comedian
Comedian Paul Whitehouse took part in a charity event on Dorset’s Royalty Fishery where he landed this personal best 26lb pike.
Star of TV sitcoms such as Harry Enfield & Chums and The Fast Show, Paul was fishing as part of a ‘win a day’s angling with a celebrity’ competition in order to help raise money for Guilford based, Cherry Trees Childrens Care Home. A keen angler, the 56-year-old, whose previous best pike weighed 17lb, started the day trotting for silverfish before switching to a small dace livebait, using 30lb braided mainline and a 28lb wire trace and it wasn’t long before he was playing the huge fish.
If you’d like to enjoy some terrific pike sport at the Royalty, contact Davis Tackle on 01202 485169.
Trent barbel rattles venue record at 19lb 1oz
Two chunks of luncheon meat and a blade of grass is all Daniel Jamson required to land the fish of a lifetime in the form of this record-shaking 19lb 1oz barbel.
The monster specimen, caught from an undisclosed stretch of the River Trent, is the biggest landed this season for the species and is just three ounces short of the current venue record. The 25-year-old Nottingham rod, who landed an 18lb 6oz fish from the same stretch three weeks earlier, was into the last hour of a short evening session when two pieces of plain luncheon meat on a size 8 hook with a piece of grass resulted in the take he had been waiting for.
“I know the stretch very well as I’ve fished here for ten years and had nearly 50 doubles this season alone so I knew there were fish of this size in here but I’m just so happy that ive managed to land what is possibly the biggest.”
The successful rig was a straight bomb setup with 12lb mainline cast just 15 yards out onto a gravel run which Daniel had fed with around 1kg of both halibut and krill flavoured pellets.
Another angler enjoying the fantastic barbel sport on offer at the inform venue is John Mott who visited the river and landed seven double figure barbel, topped by a 16lb 2oz personal best specimen.
He used Three Foot Twitch Canadian Bounty 18mm boilies that were hair-rigged on to a size 10 hook.
New venue record for Fryerning Fisheries
The prolific Fryerning Fisheries has hit top winter form producing a string of huge fish topped by a new venue record at 53lb 6oz.
Essex carper Paul Palmer headed to a spot on the Main Lake at his local complex that had produced the goods for the venue in the past and after scouring the water for an hour spotted a number of large fish topping.
A scattering of boilies were soon introduced over an area at around 50 yards out with an 18mm Mainline Cell his choice of hookbait.
Shortly after 8pm line started to slowly pull off his left hand rod, which he thought might have been a ‘liner’, but the pace of the bite soon picked up and a firm strike saw him connect with the new personal best.
“It was an immensely powerful fish, which gave me an epic battle. Another member came round to help me net it and when it surfaced we instantly noticed it as the lakes biggest resident – a mirror known as The Gurm.”
“I spoke to one of the locals and incredibly he had taken The Gurm from the same swim on the very same day last year!”
“I can’t imagine that carp fishing gets any better than this as I obliterated my personal best of 45lb 12oz in the process,” he added.
He wasn’t the only one to experience the magic of the complex, with Joe Morgan banking a brace of 40lb specimens within 20-minutes of setting up.
The Colchester-based angler made a rare visit and set his stall out in a swim that had been void of anglers for several days.
With the wind off his back and sun beaming down in to the peg, he was confident of giving his alarms a workout and targeted a shallow area around 30 yards out, presenting a single Mainline Hybrid boilie on a stiff hinge rig.
Sport couldn’t have got off to a better start with a 43lb 8oz specimen known as Charlie picking up the bait within minutes of the rig settling.
Moments after the fish – his biggest from the fishery – had slid over the net the line on his other rod tightened up, this time the culprit being an immaculate 46lb 4oz common.
“I fish the venue a couple of times a year and decided to put single baits out while I was setting up,” explained Joe.
“To get one 40lb fish in the net quickly was fantastic but to do it again moments later was beyond my wildest dreams. It’s an amazing fishery and this is a session I will never forget.”
For more details on Joe’s angling adventures visit www.carp-tv.com
Meet the River Trent task force
The war on illegal anglers gathered further momentum this week after the Environment Agency launched their latest crime fighting assault on the banks of UK’s most popular river.
Angling Times joined the team from Operation Mercury - an initiative which has been setup to crackdown on illegal fish removal and rod licence evasion on the River Trent in response to an increase in fish related crime on the waterway.
The action is part of the agency’s nationwide initiative called ‘Project Trespass’ which has seen similar crackdowns on other UK rivers such as the revolutionary ‘Operation Stone’ on the River Severn.
Both teams have already been dubbed a huge success with dozens of anglers already reported and awaiting prosecution including at least six anglers caught fishing illegally during our visit.
Joel Rawlinson, an Environment Agency, Fisheries Technical Specialist who has been working with the patrol unit on the Trent in Nottinghamshire, is well aware of the importance of the project: “Fishing on the Trent is booming at the moment with fish stocks at an all-time high so it makes it all the more important to protect what we have.
“It also has a deterrent aspect as anglers see us and know that in the future they can’t get away with fishing without a licence; in fact we have already seen an increase in licence sales since we began the operation” he said.
NIGHT RAIDS
Patrols have been running up to four times a week on the river including night raids to catch out poachers operating under the cover of darkness.
The boat used by officers is a powerful 150 BHP rib which can reach speeds up to 60 knots, giving the crew the ability to cover large areas quickly as well as providing the element of surprise. It is manned by three of the EA’s enforcement officers who receive the same training as the police and are fully loaded with cuffs, batons and protective clothing. All the men are connected up so they can communicate with not only each other but other EA officers elsewhere as well as their base: “By being connected we can work far more efficiently and increase time spent actually checking licences,” Joel continued.
“We have a code so we can call the police and receive an instant response when required, for example if someone threatens us with a weapon and we also have a 24 hour translator service so we can communicate with any non-English speaking foreign anglers more effectively. “
INTELLIGENCE
So far anglers on the bank have taken the patrols positively with clubs and individuals even helping out with operations by providing intelligence and reporting sightings of any anglers taking fish.
Environment Agency officers have been working with clubs around the area to help us determine when and who is committing offences and what areas have the higher concentration of possible illegal anglers.
It’s not just the EA ramping up efforts to stop illegal angling though, as Nottinghamshire Police are also helping the agency to clamp down by posting messages on their social media pages after officers received an increase in the number of calls from the public about fish crime this year. DCI Caroline Racher, Rural Crime Lead Nottinghamshire Police said: “It is important to appreciate that fish theft is not simply victimless wildlife crime. Many fish that are stolen are worth thousands of pounds this impacts negatively on local businesses, livelihoods, and the angling community as a whole, as well as causing endless environmental damage.”
2014 on the Trent
River Trent Enforcement Figures 2014 (from April to date)
400 - the number of licence checks
50 - the amount of illegal anglers caught
12.5 - the percentage of anglers caught fishing illegally
EA enforcement nationwide in numbers
40,000 - licence checks this year to August
4.7% - evasion rate this year
80,000 - checks last year
3000 - prosecutions for illegal angling in 2013
£600,000 - the amount in fines paid by offenders in 2013
Anyone who suspects illegal fishing to be taking place should report the matter to the Environment Agency’s incident hotline, on 0800 807060.
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Brace of 40lb-plus carp after trip to the shops
Ed Betteridge had his decision to reel in a go to the shop to thank after banking his first ever brace of UK ‘forties’ with common carp weighing 45lb 6oz and 41lb 10oz.
After a biteless first night during a 48-hour session on Bundy’s Pit in Cambridgeshire, the specialist from Derbyshire decided to give his swim a rest, top up with bait then take a trip to buy some milk.
The Korda Tackle consultant’s theory behind what happened next is the fact that he gave the fish a chance to graze over his bed of Mainline Hybrid boilies with the absence of any lines in the water - a tactic that saw him set his hook into the 45lb specimen just a few minutes after re-casting his rods.
“I’d just got back to the swim after a couple of hours and I didn’t even have time to clip the bobbin
onto the line before the rod screamed off and I’m convinced it’s because I reeled in and gave the swim a rest,” Ed told Angling Times.
“After that my fortunes completely turned around as I banked five other fish including the 42 ‘pounder’ in just 24-hours – it was an incredible session and a real eye opener.”
”It’s too much of a coincidence that I caught after the swim was left to rest with no lines in the water, which is really something to think about.
All of Ed’s fish were fooled with a simple hinged stiff rig finished with a size 6 Korda Choddy hook and a 16mm Mainline Hybrid pop-up.
The other fish that he banked during his memorable session weighed in at 30lb, 27lb and two other that were into double figures.
