Britain’s No2 common carp out at best-ever weight of 57lb 10oz

Britain’s second-biggest common has weighed in at a best-ever 57lb 10oz to cap an incredible year for Paul Viner at the Avenue.
The 43-year-old has now caught four different fifties from the Shropshire water since March, including one of them twice.
His latest fifty, known as Tarka, sets a new lake record and comes just two weeks after he banked Ellie for the second time at 51lb.
“It’s just been a totally amazing year,” Paul told Angling Times. “I’m still in complete shock.”
Tarka was part of an impressive five-fish haul in 24 hours that also included three thirties and a 29lb 12oz mirror. The big common is believed to be Britain’s second biggest, behind the Lee Jackson Fish at Kent’s Strawberry Fields which reached 63lb 4oz last year.
“I arrived at about 12.30pm and went into the same peg where I had Ellie a couple of weeks before. I put the rods exactly where I had them then and put about 50 boilies over each rod with the throwing stick, plus about 2kg of particles,” said Paul.
“About 20 minutes after finishing that I had my first fish at 29lb 12oz. I recast that rod and put out another half kilo of bait and had Tarka an hour later. It was a slow take and I knew straight away it was going to be a special fish.
“It was a typical big-fish fight as it kited for a bit, then wallowed around and put up a scrap in the margins.
“I only saw it as it went into the net and, to be honest, I initially mistook it for Ellie and I was going to just unhook it and release it, but then I saw its tail and realised it was Tarka.
“This is the last of the big four fish from there that I hadn’t had. It was absolutely mint and didn’t look like it had been hooked before.
“It was just huge, I couldn’t get over the frame on it.”
The Sutton Coldfield angler added: “I had 10 fish in 24 hours from there in March, which was the biggest hit of the season, but in terms of big fish this has got to be my best-ever session.”
Paul fished Mainline Cell and Hybrid boilies and used D rigs made with Korda IQ fluorocarbon.