7lb chub on first cast

Dai Gribble proved why he’s one of the UK’s best all-rounders when he turned his attentions to running water and landed this 7lb chub.
The Korum-backed angler from Staffordshire dug out some home-made cheese paste from his freezer and set off to a tough southern river.
He didn’t have to wait long before his legered hookbait was taken by the mint-conditioned fish on his very first cast. It was beaten with 6lb mainline and hooklink, and a size 6 hook.

Two cracks at a 40lb carp end happily

The only remedy for losing a 40-pounder at the net is to hook and land another just hours later.
That’s what Arron Fisher did at the low-stock Kracking Carp Lake on the Anglers Paradise complex in Devon.
The drama began with a bite at 7am on his second day. He said: “Straight away I knew it was a good fish but when it came up and rolled on its side I couldn’t believe how big it was.
“There in front of me was a 20-year obsession and my first UK forty. Well, it wasn’t to be because as I was trying to net it in the howling winds I lost it.
“I was absolutely devastated. I went about getting the rod back out and then sat in disbelief.
“I have been told there are only 16 carp in the lake so wasn’t holding out for another chance.”
Arron continued: “The carp gods had obviously taken pity on me as only 12 hours later my other rod went off and the rest is history. There in the bottom of my net lay another UK forty, a new pb and my first forty.”
The fish, known as the Half Lin, weighed 43lb 5oz.
Arron was fishing close in with the wind in his face and baited with Hooked On Baits hemp and Velocity Baits P-Nut+ boilies and stick mix. His hookbaits were 10mm Velocity M25 pop-ups.

Two bests in just one week

It was a week to remember for Phil Taylor as he smashed two personal bests on his local rivers.
The Lincolnshire angler went in search of a big chub and started the session by legering cheese paste.
A 4lb brace was an early reward, but the best of the day came just as the light was failing, with a 6lb 4oz personal best (pictured) going into the net.
Days later he opted for a change of tactics, relying on floatfished breadflake to tempt a few bites.
A series of roach to 1lb 10oz were enough to put a smile on Phil’s face, but the icing on the cake came when an elusive 14oz dace provided him with his second record.

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.

Big barbel worth the wait

Water bailiff Paul Oughton used his knowledge of the Warwickshire Avon to take this fine barbel of 15lb 6oz during a session with our own Martin Bowler.
The Birmingham AA official was fishing a weir pool near Evesham. After introducing bait-droppers of boilies, pellets and hemp, he cast two boilie halves.It took a few hours before the big barbel struck.

Another chub seven

Jamie Cartwright’s start to his chub campaign just keeps getting better – his latest capture saw him net this impressive 7lb 7oz specimen.
A boilie wrapped in matching paste did the trick for the former Drennan Cup champion from Northamptonshire, when he concentrated on a stretch of the Great Ouse – a venue that recently produced another huge chub for him weighing 7lb 3oz.
His rig consisted of a braided hooklink, 10lb line and a size 10 hook. His CC Moores Pacific Tuna boilies were broken into pva bags to draw the fish towards his hookbait.

Pike best smashed by a whopping 17lb

A decision to go fishing with a professional angling guide paid off handsomely for Kevin Meggison when he smashed his personal best pike by a massive 17lb.
The Kent angler contacted predator ace Rikki Cooper as he wanted to improve his best weight of 12lb and Rikki duly obliged as the pair headed to one of Kevin’s local stillwaters. A few hours later Kevin had achieved his goal by slipping the net under three fish weighing 29lb 10oz, 26lb 2oz and 19lb. All the fish were taken on legered smelt deadbaits.

Now that’s an eel... all 21lb 10oz of it!

A lamb’s heart, 6lb test-curve rod and 80lb braided line are not what you’d expect to find in a UK eel angler’s tackle box, but this is what Barry McConnell used to land this incredible specimen.

Weighing a massive 21lb 10oz, the giant predator was one of 14 double-figure eels banked by Barry and friend Peter Drabble during an unforgettable trip across the globe in an attempt to break a world record.

They travelled nearly 11,000 miles to New South Wales, Australia, where they endured six weeks’ camping in a bid to beat the species record of 25lb 12oz. However, their trip didn’t start as planned.

“After reading internet reports of anglers being snapped up by huge eels, we headed to a reservoir in the Snowy Mountains with high expectations,” Barry said.

“Six days later neither of us had a fish to show for our efforts and we realised that the Aussies had been releasing water from the lake into a river. Most of the previously landlocked eels must have escaped, so we used our back-up plan which was to fish some dams nearby.”

The move proved a masterstroke as they spent the remaining month fishing three lakes before tackling rivers in the State of Victoria, finishing the trip with 32 eels.

It wasn’t just their catches which raised eyebrows, though, as they used tackle that even a sea angler might find too beefy.

“We needed the heavy rods and strong braided line as we were pulling hard-fighting eels through weed which grew 14ft deep,” he continued.

“We used size 2 hooks, big enough to hook bait such as chicken fillet or lambs’ hearts from the local butchers, but soft enough so that they would straighten if they were snagged on the underwater trees.

“There was no time to minimise our gear. We slept in one-man tents with no bed chairs and had to cut the arms off the landing net so that we could fit it in the suitcase on the flight over and glue it together when we arrived,” he added.

Buoyed by their success, Barry and Peter are planning to return in search of bigger specimens.

“We have looked at  Queensland where the climate is hotter, so I believe there are much bigger fish than the record,” Barry added.

“However there are crocodiles in Queensland, so we would have to fish carefully,” added Barry. A video of their trip will shortly be available on YouTube.

51lb Ellie is out twice in eight weeks

Paul Viner caught this 51lb common for the second time in eight weeks at the Avenue.
The fish, known as Ellie, found its way into the back of the 43-year-old’s net on October 1 before slipping up again almost two months later.
The Sutton Coldfield carper, who has been a member at the Shropshire venue for four seasons and has also had a 52lb 8oz mirror from the lake, told Angling Times: “I had been battered by those gales during a previous session and to be quite honest I fancied a break from that, so I went on the back of the wind.
“I hadn’t seen any fish, so I cast to a spot that I know produces them.
“It was just getting dark on the second evening when I had a fairly peculiar take. The alarm beeped twice and the bobbin moved up halfway before dropping again.
“I thought it was a liner, but then the bobbin pulled up to the top and stayed there.
“I knew as soon as I hit into it that it was one of the big girls. It held its ground and shook its head and then swam on a tight line about 80 yards out. It took about 15 minutes to get it in and, by the light of a full moon, I knew which fish it was as it came over the net.”
Paul baited with hemp, corn and Mainline Cell and Hybrid boilies, and fished a critically balanced homemade boilie over the top on a stiff D rig made with Korda Kaptor Kurv Shank hooks and IQ2 fluorocarbon.

Weather no obstacle to river roach

Severe weather cuts many fishing sessions short, but James Denison battled the wind and rain to bank this immaculate 2lb 10oz roach.
Fishing a centrepin outfit on an undisclosed stretch of a southern river, the electrician trotted a single maggot hookbait after initially putting down a bed of loosefeed.
“The bite came around 30 minutes before dusk and was from the only roach of the day in what was a tough afternoon’s fishing,” James told Angling Times.
“This was my third 2lb roach of the season, and the best months are yet to come.”
James’ specimen was taken on a 12ft Greys Prodigy TXL float rod and centrepin reel combination with terminal tackle consisting of a 6BB Drennan wire-stemmed float and a size 12 barbless hook.

Paste too tempting for 7lb 2oz Ouse chub

The Great Ouse is on top big chub form at the moment, and it delivered a fish over the 7lb mark for Herts-based specialist Leighton McDonnell.
A paste hookbait moulded around two 13mm cork balls did the trick when he hooked the 7lb 2oz specimen just as the light was beginning to fade.
 Leighton fished the paste in conjunction with 6lb mainline and a size 4 Nash Fang hook.
“I’ve been having loads of success with my paste recently, taking chub to 5lb 11oz,” he said.
 “But to have such a fish from a brand new stretch I’ve only recently started fishing is a great start to my winter campaign.”

36lb 10oz carp as captor defies a roaring gale

The vibrant hue of this chunky ghostie warmed Craig Cossey during a cold and windy session.
The 25-year-old concrete manufacturer fished for 24 hours at a Suffolk syndicate venue and braced the 36lb 10oz ornamental with a 21lb 8oz mirror.
“As soon as it rolled into the net I knew this was the carp I’d been waiting for,” said the Norfolk angler, who arrived at the venue after work.
“I got both rods out on my spots and, after seeing fish over one of them, I began trickling baits in and around the area. Eventually I got a good wide spread of bait out and settled down for the night.
“Temperatures dropped to 2ºC and the wind was blowing extremely hard towards my end of the lake. It actually blew my Carp Porter over!”
After a biteless evening, Craig saw a big fish show itself over his right-hand rod at about 8.30am. He said: “Thirty minutes later I had a take and it was from a 21lb 8oz mirror – a nice fish but not the lump that I saw.
“I got my rod back on the spot again and within 45 minutes I had another take and this was the one I wanted – a new personal best.”
Craig fished to a small gravel spot and baited with about 3kg of Mainline Cell boilies.
He used helicopter rigs with long hooklinks made with E-S-P Ghost and size 6 Fox Arma Point hooks.

Giant bait for giant barbel!

A boilie almost the size of a golf ball tempted the latest in an incredible run of big barbel for one of the UK’s most in-form specimen hunters – who landed a new personal best weighing 16lb 12oz.
Incredibly, this is Luke Ayling’s third different fish over 16lb that he’s taken in under four weeks. It came during a session on the River Thames.
To induce the bite from his biggest- ever barbel the Lone Angler-backed specialist used the same homemade bait wrapped in a matching paste that recently proved the downfall of a 16lb 1oz fish from the same venue.
“With this bait I know when I get a bite it’s going to be a ‘proper’ fish,” said Luke, who comes from Oxfordshire.
“Many anglers might be put off by using a bait this big, but it’s no trouble for barbel of this size.
“It’s just a case of getting a few bites and gaining confidence in a bait like this.”
His latest specimen fell to a rig made with 15lb mainline, a coated braid hooklink and a size 6 hook.
It proved to be the only bite of the overnight session.
Along with the added attraction created in the swim by the thin layer of paste wrapped around his boilie hookbait, Luke also introduced a few 14mm barrel baits into his swim.
“To have caught the two Thames fish and a 16lb 7oz barbel from its tributary, the Thame, was far beyond my expectations.
“It’s been a hell of a season for barbel and there are plenty more to come,” Luke concluded.

John Wilson joins the Thai ton-up carp club

This is the picture of John Wilson’s biggest-ever carp, topping the scales at over 100lb.
The legendary angler, who now lives in Thailand, won the battle with the personal-best Siamese carp after he floatfished a hookbait made from rice and breadcrumbs in a session at the famous Palm Tree Lagoon, south of the capital Bangkok.
“This is the fattest carp I have ever caught. It measured 15ins across its back and almost 2ft in depth,” John told Angling Times.
But this wasn’t John’s only epic battle of the day – for three-and-a-half hours he fought a giant Mekong catfish, estimated to weigh in excess of 300lb, before his trace gave way.
“In all my years of fishing I have never felt such devastating stamina and power from a fish. I rather think that if the trace had not parted I’d still be playing it now,” he laughed.
To find out more about the fishing at Palm Tree Lagoon visit:
www.palmtreelagoon.co.uk

Huge Thames bream haul by river rookie

The winter blues show no sign of affecting red-hot silverfish sport after countless personal-best weights were taken at venues across the nation.
Roach, bream and perch have continued to feed heavily despite the chilly temperatures, with both rivers and stillwaters producing well beyond what is expected in the run up to Christmas.
Arguably the most impressive catch of them all was Tom Downing’s huge haul of bream from the Thames, where the Devon rod shared more than 150lb with MAP-backed star Tony Curd during his first-ever session on a river.
Having been persuaded to make the 400-mile round journey to the stretch at Kingston-upon-Thames he was soon rewarded for his commitment, with slabs to 7lb falling to the groundbait feeder every chuck during the frantic session.
Tom told Angling Times: “I’m a big fan of commercial fisheries but after a day out like that I am definitely going to be doing more river fishing.
“Tony had assured me that we would get a few bites, but to share more than 150lb of bream at this time of year surpassed my expectations by a mile.”
Similar levels of success were also recorded on commercial waters, as Des Shipp proved with a 60lb-plus haul from Frant Lakes made up of roach to 1lb and skimmers and perch to 2lb.
The England international was performing a demonstration at the Kent complex and attracted a bite every chuck throughout the session. He said: “It was one of those days where the float never stopped going under and everything we tried worked almost straight away.
“The growing number of silvers in commercials means a good day is on the cards on even the coldest of days.”
Other silverfish highlights of the week included 250lb-plus of silvers being brought to the scales during the latest contest at Scunthorpe’s Messingham Sands, Dennis Pattinson’s 37lb 3oz net of roach coming out on top. Numerous pleasure anglers have also landed personal-best nets of silvers at Northamptonshire’s Wold Farm Fisheries, with 70lb-plus bags of roach and skimmers being taken.

Charity day reward for Ian Russell

One good deed deserves another, and so it proved for Ian Russell as he scored this 38lb mirror during a charity session.
Chris Wake bid £1,000 in an Anglers Against Cancer auction to fish with the popular carp tutor, and Ron Buss, at Oxfordshire’s Orchid Lake.
The trio settled into the Alamo swim and Ian caught one of the biggest fish in the lake on the first day of the 48-hour session.
“This is the first time I’ve fished here,” Ian told Angling Times from the bank. “It’s been a brilliant first trip and a brilliant first fish.”
He added: “I saw a fish jump at about 95 yards in open water and cast a single pop-up to it.
“About 90 minutes to two hours later, just before it started to get dark, it went off.
“The line and the clutch was so tight that it started bleeping, then stopped, and as I ran down to the rod I thought ‘did it or didn’t it?’... and then it whizzed off again.
“It was a hectic fight to say the least but eventually we got it in. Ron and (venue owner) Marsh Pratley recognised it as a fish called Big T which normally goes 33lb or 34lb, so we did a bit of a double take when it went 38lb, but we weighed it twice and that’s what it was.”
Ian used his trusty flicky rig with a size 8 Avid LSK hook and 12mm Sonubaits 24/7 pop-up. 

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.

7lb 6oz chub on a size 18!

The benefits of fining down your tackle for big winter chub were proved by Nigel Davis, who smashed his personal best with a 7lb 6oz fish – topping a list of great specimens banked this week.
A size 18 hook baited with a single maggot was enough to overcome the powerful lunges of the big chub when the specialist, from Fordingbridge, Hants, targeted a Christchurch Angling Club stretch of the famous Dorset Stour.
After a biteless morning fishing with more robust gear and breadflake on the hook, he tackled up with his favourite centrepin reel, a 15ft float rod and a 3lb 2oz mainline tied to a 1.4kg hooklink to try to bring a response from the shy-biting chub.
“As soon as I began trotting I started catching small dace, then a chub well over 4lb,” said Nigel.
“I was so lucky that I had slack water on the inside of my swim, otherwise I wouldn’t have stood a prayer of landing it because the fish was so powerful in the flow and I had to keep it out of the reeds.
“It took me a good 10 minutes to land it, and as soon as I saw it in the net I knew it was a new personal best because it had a belly like a football.”
Moving further east, Jamie Cartwright’s first cast for chub this winter resulted in a 7lb 3oz chub.
It was the only fish of a short evening session on the River Great Ouse for the former Drennan Cup winner, and fell to a CC Moore boilie wrapped in matching paste and fished in conjunction with a PVA bag of crushed baits and pellets threaded on to a coated braid hooklink.
This is the second chub over 7lb to be taken from the popular waterway so far in 2015, and the Northampton-shire Specimen Group member beat it with a size 10 hook and 10lb line.
“This was my first cast of the winter and the best start to a campaign I could have ever wished for,” said Jamie.
“Many river anglers just nick their PVA bag straight on to the hook, but this can come off and just roll downstream in a ball.
“To ensure it stays in one place and that there’s no debris caught on the hook, I thread the bag on to my hooklink instead.”

Scottish loch springs surprise with a 35lb 8oz pike

Here’s proof that you don’t have to fish the popular UK trout reservoirs to catch monster pike. Dave Turley slipped the net under this 35lb 8oz predator – from a loch in Scotland.
The 52-year-old Scottish Pike Anglers Club member latched into the huge fish while fishing with his friend Stewart Mcmath during a pike fishing trial on Lake Menteith, near Stirling.
The pike, which was tempted on a small Bluey deadbait cast close to one of the 750-acre venue’s islands, set a new personal best for the Chapelhall-based rod, who caught a 27lb specimen from the same loch last year.
As well as raising eyebrows, the catch will no doubt raise questions as to the coarse fishing potential of the fly fishing venue, which only opens to pike anglers two days a year. Said Dave: “You just don’t know what’s in the lake as we only get to fish it twice, and one of those days is lure-only.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something much bigger lurking down in its depths.”

40lb 14oz 'Moonscale' is a venue record

A Lancashire forty is a fine specimen, and this big mirror carp broke the venue record at Borwick Fishing in Carnforth.
The 40lb 14oz mirror was caught on Jimmy’s Lake by Luke Worthing, who added an 18lb 12oz common in the session.
He said: “I arrived at the lake with a strong south-westerly wind blowing. Someone was already set up in the swim I fancied, so I popped round for a chat.
“As I was talking to the other angler a few fish started showing in that area and, with the guy due to leave later that afternoon, I started getting my gear sorted out to move in after him.
“I got in at 4pm, dropping one rod on a known spot and casting the other two towards the showing fish. At 9.30pm I got my first take from an 18lb 12oz common.
“The rod was repositioned with a yellow wafter hookbait and a few catapults of Solar Club Mix boilies scattered over the top.
“At 11:30pm the same rod was away again, and this one seemed different. At first it felt like a catfish. It flat-rodded me and charged off down the lake. It surfaced 20 yards in front of the swim two down from where I was.
“After a battle in the margins, and freeing it from a weedbed, I realised how big it was when a long, pale flank broke the surface.
“I peered into the net and it was a fish called Moonscale, the biggest carp in the lake. I caught her in May last year at 37lb 4oz.
“On the scales she went 40lb 14oz – a new pb, a venue record and a northern forty. I was buzzing.”