56lb 14oz carp a landmark for its captor
Ian Stott caught his first British fifty with this 56lb 4oz brute from Wellington Country Park.
The mirror, known as Scruffy Bob, fell during a weekend session at the Berkshire big-fish water. “I was left completely stunned,” said the Gardner-backed angler. “After seven years of trying I had at last bagged myself my first UK 50lb carp.”
Ian, who caught the same fish at 49lb 10oz more than three years ago, arrived at the lake at 6am on Friday and patrolled the water for six hours before settling in a swim known as the Up and Over in Bramble Bay.
“As I came around the path near Turtle Corner I saw several patches of tiny bubbles hitting the surface, followed by quite a few bigger ones,” said Ian. “I opted to set up in the Up and Over swim, knowing that I could wade out and cast down into the corner I had seen the activity in should I want to.”
Having introduced about 100 boilies around each rig after dark, Ian woke at 5.30am and got the take shortly afterwards.
“As I picked the rod up, I tightened the clutch down and I could feel the cold water between my toes – I had forgotten to slide into my chesties. That was soon forgotten, though, as the carp started to strip a fair bit of line from the reel.”
After prising the fish away from an overhanging tree, Ian controlled it on a short line and gathered it in the net.
“I had a feeling that it was going to be a bit of a unit,” he said, “but I was stunned when I peered into the mesh.”
Ian fished pop-up boilies on rigs made with 25lb Gardner Trickster Heavy and size 4 Covert Mugga hooks.