Pair of mirror carp from ancient estate lake

A guest trip to an ancient Oxfordshire estate lake produced this beautiful linear for Marc Cavaciuti.

The 30-year-old firefighter caught the 24lb 2oz mirror along with another of 14lb during a 24-hour session at the special venue.

He said: “I got offered a guesting session at good friend of mine’s water in Oxfordshire. He owns the lease on an ancient estate lake that he completely transformed from a boggy, tree-ridden, spring-fed swamp into an immaculate five-acre lake with crystal-clear water and some stunning fish.

“After completing a few laps of the water and climbing a few of the trees we found the majority of the lake’s stock in one half of the lake. The residents were quite active and could be seen patrolling the no-fishing bank.

“Considering how active they were, I decided to bait heavily over the two rods, thinking that at some stage during my stay they would tilt down and have a good feed.”

Conscious that any such feeding spell could also be short-lived, Marc opted to fish pink Sticky Signature pop-ups as hookbaits in the hope they would be picked up first.

“My first bite came in darkness and was a pristine 14lb mirror. My next bite came shortly after first light and was a fish known as the Blind Linear, apparently it is a very rare visitor to the bank. As always I wish could have stayed for longer!”

Marc, from Hertfordshire, baited with 12mm Sticky Vor-Tex boilies and maggots. He fished light leads on helicopter setups to counter the silt.

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