Two forties and a thirty in 12 hours

Two forties and a thirty in 12 hours gave Liam Burkin the session of a lifetime.

The company director from Stanford-le-Hope made the short hop across Essex to the Main Lake at Fryerning Fisheries and bagged The Mommon at 46lb 3oz, Four Scale at 41lb and The Stripe at 37lb.

All three fish broke the 37-year-old’s previous personal best and were caught in a period of just half a day.

Liam, who is a new member at the syndicate water, fished plastic baits from the Point swim.

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Tough campaign ends with 52lb common carp

This pristine 52lb 9oz common was the culmination of a tough campaign for Dutch angler Rogier Smit.

The tackle-shop boss used a monster 25mm Solar Club Mix bottom bait over matching freebies to tempt the monster from a venue in the east of the Netherlands.

He said: “It’s a fish that I dearly wanted to catch and have put the effort in for. Now, though, my attention is fixed on a new target, a 61lb common that’s well known in Holland and is a real sought-after fish among the big-carp hunters in the country.”

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Shark Bite out at 45lb 8oz from Avenue Fisheries

Luke Edwards toasted the arrival of his new daughter with the capture of this 45lb 8oz mirror.

The Shropshire rod made the four-mile journey to RH Fisheries’ Avenue Lake and caught the fish, known as Shark Bite, during a day session.

“After the safe arrival of our baby girl I had the all clear for a day session,” said Luke.
“I got there at first light and, knowing I had limited time, quickly headed to an area that does morning bites. I quickly sent the rods out and waited in anticipation, but nothing happened so I went for a walk and found a group of fish on the end of a new wind.

“As I was moving I slipped over and broke the tip on my rod, so as I was frustrated I took a breather and tied two new rigs and settled in my new swim. About an hour after casting out, my left-hand rod tore off and I was playing a lump. Just as I was about to land it the hook pulled! I was gutted.

“I then re-cast the rods but noticed the fish had moved slightly, so I moved my rigs and added a light sprinkling of 10mm Mainline Hybrid boilies.

“Light and time was running out but as I was chatting with one of the members my alarm signalled a bleep and the rod was a way. After a 10-minute battle I slipped my net under a fish known as Shark Bite.”

Luke presented a Hybrid wafter on a blowback rig made with a size 8 Fox  Kuro hook and 12lb Trans Khaki Illusion.

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48lb 15oz mirror carp caught from Horton Church Lake

Steve Bliss can add one of the most iconic backdrops in carp fishing to his photo album after banking this 48lb 15oz mirror at Horton Church Lake.

The fish, seen here in front of the Berkshire venue’s eponymous building, fell along with a 30lb common during a two-night session.

The 64-year-old from Cirencester in Gloucestershire told Angling Times: “I’ve been fishing all my life and it’s doesn’t get much better than this.”

Steve added: “I joined the syndicate this year and have six fish out so far. This fish, known as Fingers, is a new UK personal best for me and is currently the biggest one in the lake.

“I had been baiting a spot for five or six weeks and when I arrived I could see bubbling over the area. On the first morning I had a 30lb common, which was a beautiful fish, and then at almost exactly the same time the following morning I had the big one.

“It was a screaming take but the fish went straight into a weed bed. With steady pressure I managed to bring everything towards me. After a protracted battle with weed bed and fish I managed to get it in the edge and eventually bundle it into the net.”

Steve baited lightly with hemp and CC Moore Odyssey XXX boilies.

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Stunning 30lb mirror from Dinton Pastures

Autumn carp don’t get much better than this beauty from Berkshire’s Dinton Pastures.

Jaime Atkinson caught the 30lb 4oz mirror along with a mid-twenty common and a double during a two-night session on the challenging White Swan Lake.

The 29-year-old dental technician extracted the fish from silty patches in the central part of the lake.

He said: “After doing a slow lap of the lake with not much to go on I plumped for the middle area of the lake in a swim I'd fished and caught from a couple of times before.
“As darkness fell the carp turned up and started rolling all around me. It was   Just after midnight when the right hander pulled up tight and I was into a fast-moving but small-feeling carp. Sure enough, I was soon unhooking a pristine double-figure common which I released quickly to get the rod back out on the money.

“The same rod was away again just before dawn, but this time it felt a decent fish as it bored down hard to a snag in the left-hand margin. It fought like a tiger for a good 10 minutes.

“My good mate Cheesy came to do some cracking shots and confirmed it to be a fish known as the Bay Fish. I've caught much bigger from the venue but looks-wise I think this one is a bit special.”

Jaime fished Sticky Krill bottom baits over 500gr of freebies per fish. His rigs were made of 20lb Korda N-Trap and size 6 Wide Gape hooks.

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Ian Chillcott sets new personal best common carp

Experienced carper Ian Chillcott eclipsed his personal-best common with this immaculate specimen.

The 46lb 10oz fish fell to the Fox consultant at the Carp Society’s Farriers Lake in Gloucestershire.

Ian said: “Once again I am left speechless, an incredible carp from an incredible lake. And I think it's a lake record, too. Not bad for a rainy day in mid-October, eh?”

The big common was caught from a hole in dense weed at 45 yards in around 6ft of water and was a personal-best common for the presenter of BT Sport’s Fishing TV Show.
The former paratrooper, widely known as Chilly and famous for his ‘light my fire’ catchphrase, added: “Not unsurprisingly, the rest of my session went by in a bit of a blur. I did manage a 24lb common several hours after the big fish, but my heart really wasn't in it. I contrived to let one fall off in the weed as I was packing up, but it could never have extinguished the fires that had been lit.”

Chilly fed a total of 3kg of 10mm and 15mm Mainline Hybrid boilies spread over the area and fished a hinged stiff rig made from Fox Trans Khaki Rigidity and Trans Khaki Illusion over the top. The hookbait was a matching 15mm pop-up tied to a size 5 Fox Arma Point SR hook.

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Brace of forties from Fryerning Fisheries

A brace of forties gave Paul Palmer a perfect birthday weekend at Fryerning Fisheries.

Having extended his trip from 24 hours to 48 due to a rain-lashed first day, Paul went on to catch commons of 36lb and 40lb, and a 45lb 2oz mirror known as The Nunn.

He explained: “It was not going as planned and having been bivvy bound for a long period of time I was contemplating going home.  I decided to stay an extra night as I wasn’t sure how many more opportunities I’d get this year.  I also decided to change my baiting strategy and positioned my rods closer to where I had seen some movement. 

“At about 10pm I thought I better get into the sack a get a good night’s sleep, when a rod roared off nearly making me jump out of my socks. I hooked into what I knew was a good fish and a while later, sitting in the bottom of the net on a dark night, was a new pb common of 40lb, which I later found out was named Round Tail. 

“I was over the moon and tried to go back to bed but was up two hrs later for a 36lb common.  I couldn’t believe my luck! Around first light one of my rods thundered off again.  I hooked into something that felt very powerful and with my headtorch giving up on me it was a really tough fight.

“When I had eventually secured it in the net I got my backup light and couldn’t believe I had landed another lump which turned out to be a fish called the Nunn at 45lb 2oz. It’s a shame I had to leave the lake to go to work on my birthday, but it was definitely the right way to start the day and cause for further evening celebration!”

Paul used Mainline Cell boilies on rigs made with 20lb Fox Camotex braid and size 5 ESP Raptor T6 hooks.

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Incredible haul of thirties topped by 47lb mirror

The revamped Kingsmead One gave Ian Russell an incredible haul of thirties, topped by this 47lb 2oz mirror.

The Avid Carp consultant and angling tutor blitzed the Berkshire venue during a 44-hour session with a haul of 13 carp, 10 of which were over 30lb.

Kingsmead One, on the Horton complex, has recently been re-opened as part of the RK Leisure group of lakes, which now includes the historic Wraysbury and Horton Boat Pool among others.

Ian moved swims three times after a slow start and instantly started to catch once he had located the carp. All the fish, including three weighing 38lb, fell in the last 25 hours of the session and came to Sonubaits boilies and F1 sweetcorn.

RK Leisure spokesman Leon Bartropp said: “The Horton complex holds some stunning fish and big catches are regular there but nothing before on this scale for the Surrey-based angler.

“Ian fed a total 5kg of bait over the session and managed 10 fish over the magical 30lb barrier, both commons and mirrors, including five fish over 35lb, topped by a huge 47lb-plus mirror!

“It just doesn’t get any better than this and with the fish growing at an alarming rate on RK Leisure’s Horton complex we can see this being a regular occurrence in the future at the Berkshire venues.”

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Forty-year-old carp tops four-fish catch

Baiting heavily helped Spencer Humble catch this 40-year-old mirror as part of a four-fish catch.

The 31lb 12oz fish was the best of the Kent angler’s 15-hour session at Lee Jackson’s Cotton Farm.

He said: “To catch four in such a short session is unheard of, so they were obviously rather keen on the 17kg of the new Nash TG Active I used that day.”

All the fish fell to 15mm pop-ups mounted on combi rigs tied with Nash Fang Twister Chod hooks and 20lb Combi Link and Chod Link.

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New personal best in ten minutes

Ten minutes in the right area proved more than enough for Steve Medland as he bagged this Leney-strain mirror.

The 29lb 8oz fish gave the Portsmouth angler a new personal best at a water near his home. He said: “I saw fish showing in open water, followed by a stream of bubbles rising up from the area. I cast a Solar Top Banana pop-up to the area and it landed in soft silt.”

Ten minutes later the rod tore off and Steve landed the fish which can trace its history back to the stocking carried out by Donald Leney.

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Slate Grey banked after four-year quest

A four-year, 150-night quest for the mirror known as Slate Grey finally came to an end for Aaron Hardy.

The 29-year-old banked the sought-after fish from a Midlands pit at a weight of 36lb 7oz after seeing it show just as he was due to pack up.

The Loughborough angler said: “This carp has been my target fish for more than four years, since I started fishing the venue. The age and the history of the fish were what attracted me to her.

“I’ve fished more than 150 nights and have caught most of the other stock over the years, but this one always seemed to elude me, until now.

“I was due to pack up and leave but I thought I saw the Slate Grey rollover on my baited area on the last morning of my trip. I just had to stay. A quick trip home for some more supplies and bait and I squeezed in one more night before I had to go to work. At 3.30am I had the one I so dearly wanted!”

The self-employed builder targeted an 18ft bar 60 yards out and fed 4kg of Sticky Krill boilies with matching pop-ups. He used helicopter rigs featuring 25lb Korda Mouth Trap and size 6 Atomic Chodda hooks.

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New personal best mirror for Harry Charrington

Unstoppable match winner Harry Charrington found time for some personal fishing and bagged this new personal-best mirror.

The 40lb 12oz fish, which beat his previous best by 6oz, fell during a 48-hour session on a southern syndicate water. It was only the second time the Fox employee had fished the venue since May following a hectic summer of carp matches.

In August, Harry and fishing partner Alexei Bygrave won £30,000 in the final of the Eric’s Carp Championship and, as we went to press, Harry was battling it out in the final of the UK Carp Cup at Linear Fisheries.

He said: “This was the first weekend that I had been fishing for myself, minus any competition, since early May.

“I did the first night in one peg they I had baited the week before, but absolutely nothing happened overnight. In the morning, I saw some fish showing pretty much at the other end of the lake.

“I found the fish feeding on natural food in the dying weed, so I fished over only about 50 or 60 boilies and had the bite at about 3pm. The line just pulled up tight and the fish was solid in the weed almost instantly. I managed to get it moving and then, with a bit of weed over its head, I literally just wound it in.

“It’s a fish that’s known to fight quite well, so it’s nice to have a big one come in without any problems!”

Harry used a pink Richworth S-core pop-up over Richworth KG1 freebies. His hookbait was balanced by a size 2 Fox SSBP hook tied to 25lb Fox Coretex Matt.

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Huge haul of carp from St Ives

Liam Duncan made Cambridgeshire’s rock-hard St Ives complex look like a runs water as he caught four twenties, an elusive thirty and this 43lb 15oz mirror in a weekend.

Tackling Meadow and Fjords lakes, which are joined together and span more than 110 acres, the 23-year-old  bivvied up on a flooded spit with water under his bedchair.

The Leicestershire rod said: “It was my 35th night on the lake and I had been baiting and fishing a flooded spit of land for a couple of weekends with Sticky Krill freezer baits. I even drove the 180-mile round trip down to Cambridge midweek on a couple of occasions to pre-bait the spot.

“The totally wild nature and huge size of the lake make it very hard fishing, the area that I wanted to fish meant that I had to brolly up on a flooded spit with water under my bedchair. Not comfy!

“It all came good after six nights in the peg spread over two different three-night sessions when my 14th bite from the spot happened to be the Round Brown, my target fish at 43lb 15oz. I was absolutely blown away.”

Liam added:  “The 31lb 12oz mirror was uncaught for over two and a half years and is one of the really old originals in the lake.”

The fish came from a large gravel bar at 70 yards and were caught over a total of 10kg of whole and chopped Krill boilies. Liam fished snowman rigs made with size 4 Gardner Continental Muggas and Korda N-trap Soft.

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53lb common and 39lb mirror carp just minutes apart

The reigning Angling Times Carp Angler of the Year has been at it again with a 92lb brace that included this vast 53lb 6oz common.

Martin Pick caught the Chinese Common and a 39lb 8oz mirror within minutes of each other at Berkshire’s Wellington Country Park. The catch also came just a week after he had bagged a 46lb 2oz mirror from the same venue.

“I haven’t done much time this year, probably about 10 or 12 sessions since November of last year, which makes the recent run of fish even sweeter,” said the Korda-backed carper.

Arriving at a busy water on a Sunday morning, Martin took his time and eventually located some fizzing carp in a small channel between an island and the bank on his third lap of the lake.

“That was good enough for me,” said Martin, “although it did seem to raise a few eyebrows, with one guy asking, ‘why are you going in there?’.”

After a quiet night, Martin had a screaming run at 6.30am. He said: “It was raining, but I rushed out in my socks and bent into it. Straight away I could feel the line grating on the bushes, so I had no choice other than to plunge straight in, without my waders. The improved angle did the trick and the fish came free and tanked off down the channel. Looking back, I’d certainly have lost it had I not taken the action that I did.

“As it was, I managed to coax the fish back up the channel and netted it safely. I popped it onto the scales and they flew round to over 53lb, which blew me away! I felt sick and had to pop the fish into the retention sling and have a brew while I gathered my thoughts.

The kettle hadn’t even boiled before I was away again on one of the open-water rods. This time the culprit was a typical Welly mirror that weighed in at 39lb 8oz! I was completely bewildered now, unable to completely believe what had happened to me.”

The fish fell to reverse combi rigs and DT Baits’ Cold Water Mix boilies.

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Pretty One out at 35lb from Fryerning

This 35lb mirror is known as the Pretty One, and it’s easy to see why.

Carl Carlucci caught the large-scaled fish at Fryerning Fisheries in Essex while trying a new bait.

The 46-year-old from Chelmsford said: ““It was my first session on a new Bait from DT Baits so I was over the moon to catch Pretty One!

“I moved swims after two nights after seeing showing fish and caught the fish at 7am after a 1am rig change and recheck.”

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Second 40lb-plus carp in a month for Rich Seeds

Rich Seeds is on a roll at the Carp Society’s Farriers Lake after banking his second forty in a month.

The 31-year-old Hampshire angler caught a new personal-best common in the shape of this 42lb 6oz chunk during a 24-hour session at the Gloucestershire venue.

The fishery manager got through 7kg of Sticky Vor-Tex boilies and fished a six-inch blowback rig at 80 yards.

He said: “This is my second forty from Farriers in three weeks and again a new pb common.”

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Dinton delivers 30lb mirror carp at midnight

Dinton Pastures doesn’t give up its resident easily but Tony Roberts seems to have found a winning tactic, as demonstrated by this 30lb mirror.

The Kent angler fished the Berkshire venue’s White Swan lake and targeted a clay hump at 45 yards during a recent 24-hour session.

Fishing over a half-kilo scattering of different-sized Sticky Krill boilies, Tony got the take at midnight.

He said: “I pulled into the fish which gave a spirited battle. When I got the fish over the net cord I saw it was one of the few fully scaled fish that are in Dinton and I thought to myself, this bait certainly seems to be sorting them out for me.”

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Trio of thirties in just 36 hours

Haydn Hoskins banked three thirties in 36 hours in a memorable weekend session at Kingsmead One.

The Nash-backed angler said: “For sure, it’s the most thirties I have had in such a short space of time.”

Having arrived after dark on Friday at the Berkshire venue, Haydn got his rods out by 10.30pm. “To start with I applied several kilos of a new prototype bait mixed with a handful of so of the Coconut Crème baits, and by 2.30am I'd had my first take. Unfortunately, the hook pulled soon after.

“By morning I’d had no more action and so decided to top up the area with another kilo of bait as I was simply too tired to put any more bait after my first take. It seemed that more bait is what they wanted, as around 30 minutes after putting out a kilo of boilies, I was in again.

“This time I was fortunate enough to land a lovely 36lb 8oz common, although only just! A friend arrived to help me with the netting as the weed in front of me was so heavy, and as he slid the net under the ball of weed and lifted I could see half of the fish wasn't in the net at all. Not thinking, I jumped in and pulled the net up and over the fish. As I got out of the lake my friend mentioned how my rod and reel looked nicely submerged in the margins! I wasn't even thinking, I must have just thrown it out of my hand when I jumped in to ensure I landed the fish.”

Haydn introduced a total of 7kg of bait over the course of the session and managed another common of 33lb 4oz and a 34lb mirror. His rigs featured 20lb Nash Combi Link and size 8 Fang X hooks.

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54lb 12oz mirror carp from Wingham syndicate

A Kent syndicate water had produced its second fifty in recent weeks with this 54lb 12oz mirror.

Rob Burrage banked the giant fish during an overnight session at Wingham Carp Lake. The same venue also produced a 50lb 11oz common during the summer and owner Steve Burke is enthusiastic about the lake’s prospects.

He said: “"Both the fifties were born at Wingham and so I don't know how old they are, let alone how big they'll grow, but even I'm getting excited now!"

The giant mirror was caught just 25 yards out in 8ft of water. Structural designer Rob said: “If I had realised just how special the fish was I wouldn't have played it quite so hard to keep it out of the weed!"

The 43-year-old from nearby Sevenoaks added: “There's no place like Wingham for peace and tranquillity plus the chance of catching something special.”

Rob presented an S2 pop-up from Specialized Hookbaits on a size 6 G-Force hook tied to G-Force Blackout hooklink. He baited with a kilo of GLM Sausage Oil boilies from Shoreline Baits and the bite came on the morning of his overnight session.

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