‘Slow’ venue’s common at 51lb

Terry Dempsey has got back among the giants with this stunning 51lb common carp from a Kent gravel pit.
The Urban Baits boss told Angling Times: “The lake had been fishing slow for months with just the odd fish coming out, so I spent the first day of the two-night session just watching the lake for signs of fish.
“All I saw was the occasional patch of bubbles popping up here and there in a particular area of the lake. With no other signs to go on I set up near the bubbling just before it got dark.
“The baits were cast just 30 yards out into small holes in the thick weed I had found after some plumbing.
“I used a Nutcracker corkball pop-up over around 100 Nutcracker freebies.
“At around 1am in the pitch dark I heard the loud crash of a big fish not too far from my baits, giving me lots of confidence.
“Then around 3am I had a definite line bite on one of the rods and, just before light broke, the right-hand rod screamed off as a heavy fish made it into the thick weed.
“After 10 minutes or so I pumped a gigantic weedbed into the margins and there in the middle of the weed sat this massive common that I quickly netted before it realised what was happening!”