46lb 4oz Acton Burnell common carp tops the list

Duncan Arrandale capitalised on a week’s holiday by banking four carp averaging more than 40lb at Acton Burnell.
The Wychwood and Richworth consultant caught mirrors of 46lb 4oz, 41lb and 39lb 2oz, plus a common of 37lb 8oz during his seven-night session at the Shropshire big-fish water.
The 41-year-old got off the mark almost immediately and never looked back. He said: “I was fortunate to find a group of fish feeding when I arrived, and fishing single hookbaits to bubblers for the first four hours resulted in a 41lb mirror.
“The fish then drifted off, but on Tuesday morning I saw a fish show to my right. An S-Core pop-up cast to the area resulted in a 39lb 2oz mirror.
“The lake then seemed to switch off but I had seen a fish top in a bay to my right on Wednesday, right on dark. I baited the area on the Thursday and Friday mornings with a couple of handfuls of S-Core and on Friday lunchtime a fish topped on the spot.
“I cast a darker-coloured KG-1 hookbait over the brighter S-Core freebies and got a bite an hour later. After an epic 25-minute battle I netted a new personal best of 46lb 4oz.
“The week was then rounded off on Sunday morning with a common of 37lb 8oz, caught fishing to an area where I had seen a couple of shows the morning before.
“I primed the area with 45 baits on the Saturday afternoon, fished a hookbait to the area from dusk and had a bite just after first light on Sunday.”
The Worcestershire angler used hinged stiff rigs made from size 6 E-S-P Stiff Riggers, Kryston Incognito and Korda Mouthtrap.