Big changes for Fish O'Mania 2017

Check out our Fish o' Mania 2017 guide here and claim your free tickets! 

Fish O’Mania organisers have unveiled a series of major changes to the tournament, including a guaranteed ticket for every entrant.

The mega-money tournament is widely regarded as the number-one crown in match fishing but frustrations have grown as a result of the unpredictable lottery that dictates how tickets for the qualifiers are distributed.

In a bid to guarantee every angler at least one ticket to the heats, organisers are set to scrap theballot system, and are currently working on a brand new format.

Changes have also been made to the final, with 28 anglers instead of the usual 16 set to battle it out on Cudmore Fisheries’ Arena Pool in 2017. 

And that’s not all. Fish O’Mania is set to go global for the first time in its history, with plans to run four overseas qualifiers out of a total of 28. The winner of each will go straight through to the final, as the controversial semi-final that was introduced this year is being abolished.

Fish O’Mania owner Matchroom Sport believes the overhaul will spell an even brighter future for the competition, and company chief Barry Hearn told Angling Times: “Fish O’Mania remains the biggest and best event in match fishing, and 2017 is going to be a very exciting year for the tournament.

“The qualifiers have been amended due to feedback from the competitors, and the system for obtaining tickets is also overhauled, giving everyone at least one of the 3,920 tickets on offer and possibly more.

“Scrapping the semi-final seemed like the right thing to do, and expanding the final on the Saturday makes sure everyone gets to go to the party.

“Having international qualifiers will also add to the event, as we plan to grow the Fish O’Mania brand across Europe.”

A whopping £50,000 will once again be handed to the overall winner, and this year’s champion Andy May is looking forward
to defending his title under the new format. 

He said: “I loved every minute of this year’s final and I think the increased number of anglers next year will make it a really exciting event for both competitors and spectators.

“Every match angler in the country wants a shot at winning Fish O’Mania and I think it’s great that the organisers are working on a way to guarantee everyone a chance to get into the limelight.”

Tickets are set to be made available in the early part of next year, with full details of the brand new allocation system set to be revealed in the coming months.

River barbel records and personal bests are smashed across the UK

River records and personal bests have been smashed again as Britain’s barbel continue their autumn feeding spree.

Best of the week fell to Peterborough’s Martin Gray, whose 17lb 8oz fish from the River Nene ended a five-year quest to beat his previous pb of 16lb 10oz.

He introduced a handful of boilies in the central channel and cast a running rig with a home-made 12 mm boilie over the top.

“The bite was really tentative, but then experience told me that I was into something special as the barbel made its way upstream,”said Martin.

“There’s every possibility that the big fish in here could top 20lb this coming winter.” 

On the River Derwent, a run of 12 blanks ended for Ray Williamson when he landed a 17lb barbel.

The Derby angler targeted an Earl of Harrington’s AC stretch, snaring the giant fish just 3ft from the bank on a CC Moore Pacific Tuna boilie. His 2oz feeder rig incorporated 4ft of fluoro hooklength and was backed up with loose offerings. 

Said Ray: “After all those blanks you start to question your rigs and baits, so I just went back to the same tactic that caught me a 16-pounder from the same river last year – and it worked a treat.” 

The second huge barbel from the in-form Derwent is a club record-breaking 16lb 10oz.

Pellets and boilies are what most anglers take with them to catch big barbel these days, but Phil Needham showed that the traditional approach can still pay.

The Derby Angling Federation bailiff fished his own club’s stretch of the river, where he tempted the prized specimen using a small cube of meat after creating a bed of hemp and caster via a bait dropper. 

Phil, who set the club’s barbel record with a 15lb 12oz fish last season, used a 1½oz flat lead, 10lb fluoro mainline and a short 8lb hooklength of the same material to catch the specimen.  

Most anglers can only dream of catching two 16lb barbel in one week, but that’s exactly what
Matt Hughes managed to achieve with the capture of two specimens weighing 16lb 6oz and 16lb 4oz.

Fishing an unnamed stretch of the River Trent, the Sutton Coldfield angler also netted four other doubles during two arm-aching sessions spent in a swim where he had caught fish to over 16lb last season. 

After arriving to find a fairly low and clear river, Matt began his session by feeding three handfuls of boilies.

He then cast out out two rods with 4oz gripper leads on Nash weedclip systems tied to Korda Ntrap semi-stiff hooklengths with size 6 ESP Cryogen hooks.

To keep the fish interested he fed around six chopped and whole boilies every half-hour, presenting a whole version with popped-up sweetcorn on the hair.

Darran Goulder had every reason to smile about his first-ever barbel from the River Thames, a fish that scaled 13lb 10oz.

A carp fishing friends said that he’d been catching barbel, so the Shimano consultant from Kent decided to target them. But he didn’t expect a fish like this during his first evening session.

It was fooled with two 15mm Dynamite Baits Spicy Shrimp & Prawn boilies fished in conjunction with a size 8 hook.

Three forties get Jon buzzing!

Jon Taylor had a swarm of wasps to thank for his capture of three huge mirrors weighing 42lb, 42lb 6oz and 45lb 6oz.

Arriving at one of the Essex Carp Syndicate’s portfolio of waters, the 42-year-old found numbers of fish showing in front of a swim that was already taken. Seeing that the adjacent plot was free, he thought that his luck was in – but he soon changed his mind.

Jon explained: “There was a wasp nest in the swim, and some poor chap had suffered multiple stings over the weekend. As soon as I wandered in there I was chased off by a swarm!”

Forced into a rethink, Jon knew that the wind was due to swing round, so he decided to move to a swim that would be on the end of it. Just 10 hours later he was celebrating his best-ever session.

“I got the rods out and sprayed a couple of kilos of boilies over them. The wind then swung round into my face and the fish were instantly on it. A speedy take resulted in one of the lake’s big girls – the Scattered Lin – at 42lb 6oz, followed by a big-framed mirror called Boris at 42lb.

“I could see the spots fizzing up and shortly after recasting I was away again. This was the biggest of the lot – a fish called Brick Top – weighing 45lb 6oz,” he added. 

Rob Hales: “I’m growing more records”

Big Rig’s origins

The record carp was bought at a weight between 30lb and 39lb in 2011 from Fenland Fisheries, Cambridgeshire, whose boss Mike Hawes says that it was legally imported from Israel in 2009.

The carp, and three others of the Dor-70 strain, was purchased by Rob Hales and transported to his Shropshire HQ. To find out more visit: www.rhfisheries.com

For more on Fenland Fisheries, call 01487 841858.

Record weight

Big Rig was weighed on two sets of scales. One gives it a weight of 69lb 13oz, but Rob will make the 69lb 3oz record claim on readings from a set of 120lb Reuben Heaton Specimen Hunter scales.

Rob Hales is without doubt the most talked about UK fishery boss in the UK after his Shropshire venue The Avenue produced the 69lb 3oz British record carp. 

The fish, Big Rig, was hand reared by the RH Fisheries owner and specifically grown to become Britain’s biggest-ever carp...dividing opinion within the sport.

As the dust settles on one of the most controversial captures of recent times, Angling Times caught up with Rob to gain an insight into the world of big carp.

You bought Big Rig at 39lb as one of a hand-selected group of fish. Do you have any other carp from this batch in your lakes? 

When I bought Big Rig she was one of a group of fish that were all bigger than she was, with amazing potential to grow huge.
I bought those too. 

All my lakes contain fish-of-a-lifetime and I just keep adding to them, giving more anglers a shot at the fish of their dreams.

How big do you think carp can get in a UK water? 

I think Big Rig has the potential to reach 75lb… possibly more. 

But there’s no doubt that a quality strain of carp in the right environment could break the 80lb barrier. 

In my opinion that’s great for carp fishing in the country and the fishing industry as a whole.

You use state-of-the-art feeders set on timers to optimise the growth of carp at some of your waters. What does this cost?

I can spend up to £15,000 on feed for just one lake during the course of a year. 

This includes pellets and medicated boilies just before the winter which keep the fish in top condition throughout the colder months. 

I’ve put 100 kilos of these boilies into one of our lakes in the last week alone. This is what it takes.

What is your message to those people who say that purposely growing carp to break records is wrong?

People must think that all I do is buy big fish and force-feed them bait until they reach massive weights. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fish I buy and raise are from the highest quality strains. People don’t understand how much time, dedication and hard work it takes to grow so many huge carp. Anglers want to catch big fish and I meet this demand. 

Those who criticise this need to wake up, because it’s fisheries like mine that hold the future for the British carp record. 

Were you surprised by some of the negative reactions after the capture of Big Rig?

Not really. Sadly, it’s often the uneducated minority that tend to spout off and don’t realise the harm they can do. 

The national papers picked up on this and all the coverage did was to paint angling and anglers in a very bad light. 

Some of the comments that were aimed at the captor, Tom, were shocking and those responsible should be very ashamed of themselves. They should take up another sport.

Did you regret the way in which the record story played out?

The only thing I would have done differently was not to speak to the daily papers, because it ’s now clear that they didn’t want a good fishing story.

Instead they focused on all the negativity that came from small-minded and, in some cases, vicious individuals. 

At the end of the day a great guy caught the biggest carp in the country and it’s an achievement that should be celebrated, not denigrated.

Is the demand for catching big, commercially-stocked carp still on the rise?

The appetite among anglers for catching huge carp is just getting bigger and bigger. There’s no sign of this trend slowing down at all.

Have you and your team been inundated since the capture of Big Rig?

Put it this way, our website usually gets around 350 hits a day. Since Big Rig was caught we’ve had over 5,000 a day.

It’s crazy – the phone hasn’t stopped ringing and our email boxes have been filling up fast.

Now you’ve grown the biggest carp in the UK, what comes next for RH Fisheries?  

To continue to provide huge carp for UK anglers. It’s my passion. We now have thousands of Big Rig’s offspring that all have the potential to grow to massive proportions. 

Not only will I grow and nurture these fast-growing carp for my own waters, but I will sell them to other venues so they will have carp bearing the genes of this record-breaking carp.

‘Unknown’ mirror is the perfect tonic to lost big fish

Lewis Read continued his remarkable autumn run by banking this 49lb 4oz mirror from Wellington Country Park this week.

The impressive fish, which is bizarrely called the The Unknown, fell to a pop-up boilie presented over 1.5kg of freebies at 120 yards range and helped Gardner Tackle employee Lewis to forget about the loss of a big fish earlier in the day.

“To be honest, it was a really lucky cast. I was aiming to get my rig close to the overhanging branches of a tree on the end of an island, but it landed right under it – perfect!

“Once hooked, the fish gave a good, solid fight and I was blown away to nab another one of the lake’s big mirrors,” said Lewis. 

“It was the perfect tonic following the devastating loss of a big fish on Saturday morning after it kited into a snag.”

Just a day later Lewis then rounded off the weekend in fine style by banking a chunky 30lb 8oz common carp from Pit 4 at Frimley in Surrey. 

He said: “I was chuffed to bits with this one because I’ve been putting in a fair amount of effort at the venue in between my trips to Wellington Country Park.” 

Marsh Farm crucian scales exactly 4lb

This pristine 4lb crucian put a smile on Chris Petter’s face during a visit to the UK’s most famous venue for the species.

Godalming Angling Society’s Marsh Farm Fishery has provided countless visiting anglers with their fish of a lifetime.

Hampshire angler Chris spent a day on Johnson’s Lake, where he fished an imitation caster on a size 16 Drennan Super Specialist hook in conjunction with helicopter rigs and 4lb hooklinks. 

Ten-fish for a 311lb haul from Horton’s Kingsmead One

Making time to look for fish before setting up is rarely time wasted, as James Butcher proved when he took a mammoth haul of 10 big carp during an action-packed session.

The Finchley, East London rod banked six twenties, three thirties and a cracking 44lb 2oz mirror from RK Leisure’s Horton 30-acre Kingsmead One lake in Berkshire. He targeted an area where, on arrival, he’d found a number of fish lying up in the weed.

He said: “I chose a swim called The Bream, which was the closest one to where the fish were holding up in the weedbed under the bridge at the eastern end of the lake. I then put approximately 4kg of boilies out to try to intercept them as they moved in and out of the area.”

After kicking things off with a 34lb 4oz common on his first day, shortly after first light the following morning James banked a 37lb 14oz mirror known as the Mug Sutton. 

The action then continued steadily from that point on, with a further six twenties and a 32lb 2oz common, before on the last day of the session, the cherry on the cake arrived in the form of a big mirror known as Moony weighing in at 44lb 2oz.

“The weather was very warm and overcast, and when the wind got up a little I tended to get a bite or two,” said James. 

“However, I had nothing at all during the hours of darkness – I think the fish moved out of the weedbed as the sun set late in the evening, before moving back into the area at dawn.

“After each fish I put around a kilo of bait out, and the more I put out, the more runs I had. I lost a couple of fish due to hook-pulls in the weed, but there’s no way I’m complaining – I was buzzing after a session like that!” 

Whittle joins battle for RiverFest crown

Yet another big name has been added to the RiverFest final after the latest heat on the River Severn ended in thrilling fashion.

With barbel, chub and small silverfish all present in the Bridgnorth section, it was anyone’s guess what attack would be most effective, but river fishing expert Hadrian Whittle’s big-fish gamble paid off.

The Kamasan Starlets man drew peg 30 and used the pellet feeder in the hope of having the odd bite. He got just that with a brace of barbel and three chub giving him a winning total of 19-12-0.

He didn’t have it all his own way, though, with Liam Darler – who was in the same section – piling on the pressure. He ultimately fell just short with 18-3-0 that was made up of two barbel and a chub from peg 28.

The two other anglers to qualify were Zone B winner Rich Duke, who landed 14-0-0, and Zone C champion Geoff Maguire with 14-8-0.

RiverFest action was also on show on the River Thames at Clanfield, where another full house was forced to struggle in the blustery conditions.

Only two men broke the double-figure mark. Topping the pile at the end of a tough five hours was Deron Harper on peg 8 with 11-8-0 of silvers taken on floatfishing tactics.

Second – and also going through – was Andy Johnstone with 10-2-0 from peg 43. The final qualifying spot was secured by Nick Early from peg 27.

Six more heats will be staged in the coming weeks before the big final takes place on the River Wye in Hereford on November 19 and 20. 

Explosive feeder bang on for rudd

A feeder filled with an exploding groundbait led to the capture of a dream catch of big rudd for James Champkin.

The haul was topped by a 3lb 2oz specimen, backed up by fish of 2lb 11oz, 2lb 7oz and 2lb 4oz when the fishing fanatic from Northants set his sights on a small stillwater in Lincolnshire.

Cage feeders packed with an explosive homemade groundbait, teamed with trimmed-down pop-up boilie hookbaits, were the winning combo for the campaigns officer at the Angling Trust.

“A lot of carp anglers fish this venue and consequently the rudd are accustomed to feeding over beds of particles,” James told Angling Times.

“So I put down a bed of hemp, corn and other particle baits and used a cloudy zig groundbait in the feeders to generate an explosion of particles through the water column.”

His carefully laid trap worked perfectly, and all his fish fell to rigs made from 5lb fluorocarbon hooklinks and size 16 hooks.

“I’ve managed to bank a number of big rudd over 2lb in the past, but to finally net the one fish that I’ve been after is such a big achievement for me,” James continued.

“The feeding spells of the bigger fish are incredibly compressed and the action can be very explosive – but only for maybe 10 minutes at a time.

“During these hectic periods I can catch maybe three or four big rudd, then the bites dry up completely. 

“To catch a group of fish like this is something that doesn’t happen very often,” he added.

Sellout predicted for new £50,000 winner-takes-all series

The creator of a big-money match series has set his sights on a sellout after hundreds of tickets were snapped up within days of the official launch.

Angling entrepreneur Phil Briscoe gave the angling calendar a major boost last month when he unveiled the brand new Golden Reel tournament, promising that the champion would walk away with a minimum £50,000 first prize.

With several other established big-money events such as Fish O’Mania and Maver Match This already on the agenda, question marks arose as to whether there was room for another competitor – but those doubts have been instantly quashed.

Early ticket sales have shocked the organisers, and Larford Lakes boss Phil told Angling Times: “We always expected the event to be popular but we never thought we’d sell as many tickets as we have in the first few days.

“The response has been fantastic and it’s clear that the Golden Reel has created a lot of excitement.

“I think we can surprise a few people and quickly become the number one tournament on offer in the UK.

“It’s early days yet, but I see no reason why the competition won’t be a sellout.”

The grand final will be staged at Larford Lakes on Saturday, August 19, 2017, with the winners of the 24 qualifiers battling it out for the title. Plans have also surfaced for a separate one-off contest to take place on the Sunday of the same weekend.

“We are planning a tackle village where the top manufacturers can display their latest gear, and those exhibitors will have the chance to enter a special four-man team event,” added Phil.

For details or to buy tickets visit www.goldenreelangling.co.uk

River Trent is on fire!

A group of friends have shared the session of a lifetime on the River Trent when they netted 21 double-figure barbel.

In the most prolific 24-hour spell of their angling careers, Daniel Best, George Gorst and Stephen Wall banked no fewer than 48 fish during an incredible visit to Gunthorpe Weir on the middles reaches of the river in Nottinghamshire.

After the three had built up their swim with bait, the action was so hectic that the North West-based anglers had to reel their rods in and fish with one rod between the three of them.

Even this didn’t affect their catch rate as they all set new personal bests, with 21 fish weighing between 10lb and 12lb.

Daniel Best explained to Angling Times just exactly how the frantic 24 hours panned out: “After a long drive across the Pennines we arrived at the Trent around lunchtime and things started slowly,” he said. 

“I opted to fish one rod with rolling meat, but after three hours I’d had no fish and encountered plenty of snags, so it was time to get the feeder rods out. That’s when it all kicked off big time.

“At 8pm I had my third double at 11lb 4oz and at 1.30am George landed a 9lb barbel and a new personal best of 11lb 15oz followed at 6am – game on!”

Daniel proposed a move to the tip of the island and cast straight into the weir. That resulted in a further two doubles and a fish of 10lb 1oz for Stephen – his first-ever double. It was from that point on that the action stepped up yet another gear.

“By now the fishing was mental,” Daniel added. “We used one rod between us and then took it in turns to catch a fish. 

“Stephen landed a new personal best at 10lb 13oz and luckily, when it was my turn, I managed to bag another double, followed by another and another. I think I had 12 doubles in the end.” 

All the fish fell to 12mm ProSushi boilies fished on 4ft combi-links with size 10 Krank hooks, along with 5oz feeders loaded with broken boilies and groundbait. 

“It was an unbelievable session and one that just leaves you looking at each other with wide eyes. All you can really do is shake your head and laugh,” Daniel said.

“At the final count we ended up with 48 barbel – 21 doubles and three personal bests – and Stephen finally caught his first double. It’s a day that we will never forget.”

A ‘maizing’ quick hit at Farriers

Two bites in two hours on particles saw Duncan Arrandale bank two thirties in quick succession.

The 42-year-old Wychwood and Richworth consultant found the fish in the mood for maize at his favourite Farriers Lake in Gloucestershire.

He bagged a 39lb 12oz common, typical of the specimens found in the Carp Society-controlled venue, and a 32lb 4oz mirror.

The Evesham angler fed about half-a-kilo of the yellow grains and presented three pieces on his rigs.

He said: “I had seen fish bubbling close in and managed to locate a small, hard, clear spot amid the weed nearby. 

“I baited fairly heavily, making sure the carp were aware that there was some easy food near where they’d been grubbing about in the weed, and to account for nuisance fish eating some of it. 

“I had two bites in two hours the following morning and then the spot died a death, with the fish seeming to push further out into the lake.”

Huge Grafham pike

Gavin Watts’ predator fishing season began in style when he slipped the net under this huge pike.

He hooked it during a lure fishing session on the Western Arm of Grafham Water and it tipped the scales at 29lb 14oz. 

It’s the biggest pike to be boated since the Cambridgeshire venue opened its doors to predator anglers on September 1. 

Grafham’s predator season is open until the end of January. Anyone who wants to book on can do so by calling the lodge on: 01480 810531.

It’s ninth time lucky for big Severn barbel

After blanking eight times on the Lower Severn, Adam Coterill returned for a ninth to claim this 15lb 10oz barbel. 

The Worcester angler fished a 15ft-deep slack just before darkness with a free-running feeder outfit complete with pellets, groundbait and double 15mm boilies on the hook. 

Said Adam: “After a missed bite I put the rod back on the rest and five minutes later the personal-best fish bolted downstream.”

Monster porbeagle taken on fly tackle!

A monster porbeagle has been caught from British waters by an angler using fly-fishing tackle. 

The shark, estimated to weigh 380lb and thought to be the largest ever taken on a fly, was claimed by Wiltshire angler Tim Westcott who battled with the fish for over an hour while aboard Jerry Rogers’ Fast Cats charter boat out of Cornwall.

Tim claimed the porgie while purposefully targeting the species. It’s the latest in a two-year campaign that has seen him land numerous other specimens, including a blue shark of 151lb... also on the fly.

Read more over at our sister website, seaangler.co.uk.

Triple specimen chub hit in a single week from Throop

Jim Quartermain enjoyed the fishing week of a lifetime when he banked a 2lb roach, a 14lb 2oz barbel and this plump 6lb 8oz chub. 

Targeting various lengths of the Dorset Stour at Throop, Jim alternated between float and leger tactics with pellets to get the all-important bites. 

On the first night of his session he bested the double-figure barbel using a light bomb outfit, while the chub and roach fell to trotted pellets just a couple of days later.

Amazing week with two 90lb carp from Europe

Scott Phillips has joined an exclusive club of anglers to have landed 90lb carp from two countries after a phenomenal session at Euro Aqua in Hungary.

The Midlands angler travelled to the record-breaking water and banked a double, a twenty, a thirty, a forty, a fifty, a sixty, a seventy, an eighty and a 92lb 2oz mirror in a single week.

Scott, who banked the Scar Fish at Les Graviers in France at 99lb two years ago, also snared a catfish estimated at over 130lb.

“A dream session or what?!” he said. “Hopefully one day I will be lucky enough to complete the full set and land a 100lb carp.”

Scott’s second-biggest fish of the session was an 84lb 4oz mirror on the final night, while his third-biggest resulted from his first bite of the week and weighed 74lb 4oz.

The 92-pounder came as part of an incredible double take that also produced a comparatively small fish of 50lb 8oz.

“I got into my bed around 10pm and was nearly asleep when all of a sudden the left-hand rod burst into life,” recalled Scott. 

“I was on it straight away and knew that I had another big fish on. Taking my time and playing it quite softly, I had gained about 20 yards on it when my right-hand rod started to scream off.

“Now, with a rod in each hand, I was shouting to my mate Chris, but he was fast asleep. 

“The second fish didn’t feel as big as the other one I was playing, so I put it back on the rest with the drag just loose enough to stop it pulling the rod in, and concentrated on the other fish.

“The fight lasted around 20 minutes in total and as soon as I saw it coming towards the net
I knew it was a big fish but didn’t have time to look at it properly because I had the other rod to sort out.

Scott added: “It wasn’t until we lifted it out of the water and on to the mat that I realised just how big it was!”

River roach run riot!

An incredible 500lb of float-caught roach tops a long list of redfin hauls this week as venues nationwide prove why sport with the popular species is at an all-time high.

Venues from West Yorkshire all the way down to the South West have been delighting visiting anglers, while those fishing a contest on the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire were treated to some of best roach fishing of their lives as they filled their nets with roach and dace.

There were more than 20 weights of roach and dace into double figures during the Bedford Hospital Cup, staged on popular club stretches along the upper river, and the top four anglers shared almost 80lb of prime silverfish, all caught on traditional float tactics.

“The roach fishing this year has been the best ever,” said Milton Keynes Angling Association chairman Trevor Johnson.

“This match is perfect proof, but this is just the tip of the iceberg – big nets of roach are being caught up and down the entire river.

“I believe the roach boom on this venue, and countless other waterways across the country, is down to the ongoing silverfish stockings carried out by the Environment Agency.”

The River Trent is another in a long line of rivers that have seen the huge shoals of roach they were historically famous for make a welcome return.

Anglers been flocking to Trent hotspots Burton Joyce, Long Higgin and Gunthorpe to take nets to 20lb-plus of roach on floatfishing tactics, and the owner of a local tackle shop has revealed that sales of traditional roach baits bronze maggots, hemp and tares are on the up.

“Roach catches on the river have been exceptional. It’s not only about quantity either, as there are so many big individual fish being landed too,” said Tim Aplin, who runs Matchman Supplies Angling Centre in Nottingham.

“All the areas that used to produce big catches of roach back in the Trent’s heyday are back in form, and more and more anglers are now fishing for them. It’s great to see,” he said.

“This is reflected in the fact that our bait sales for those visiting the river have increased in line with the general improvement of fishing on the Trent.”

Moving further north, 25lb catches of roach on the stick float have become a common occurrence on the River Calder in West Yorkshire.

It’s this sheer quality of sport that is seeing anglers regularly travel more than 100 miles in order to take part in the weekly contests held on the river around the Mirfield area.

“We get anglers travelling from Newcastle, Nottingham and Manchester to fish here.

“Every week matches on the Calder are being won with between 17lb and 25lb of roach,” said Mirfield Angling Club president Martin Highe.

“There aren’t many better ways to spend a day’s fishing than with a float rod in your hand, catching quality roach.”

New British carp record at 69lb 13oz

“How I grew the record carp”

From 39lb to 69lb 13oz in three years – here’s the story of how RH Fisheries boss Rob Hales created the UK’s biggest carp

Timeline of ‘Big Rig’ 

2013 Brought in at 39lb and introduced into one of Rob’s growing-on reservoirs, where carefully selected carp are fed a diet of pellets to maximise growth potential. A custom-made, floating feeder introduces these on a timer.
2014 Big Rig attains a weight of 42lb and remains in the reservoir fed on a diet of pellets.
2015 The fish remains in the reservoir for another year, reaching an unrecorded weight
2016 The fish is moved to Rob Hales’ own fish farm where it’s used in a spawning programme to provide future generations of fast-growing carp.
2016 March Following a daily diet of two kilos of boilies and two large scoops of pellets every morning, all hand-fed by Rob, Big Rig reaches a weight of 58lb... and that’s after spawning.
2016  September Big Rig sends shockwaves through the angling world when she sets a new British carp record at 69lb 13oz, caught from The Avenue.
Future Rob is adamant that Big Rig has plenty more growing potential, and her offspring are now being nurtured to provide thousands more fast-growing carp for Rob’s own and other waters. 

This is the picture of the colossal 69lb 13oz carp that smashes the current British record.

The fish, known as Big Rig, was banked by Essex rod Tom Doherty just a few hours after he’d cast out into the Avenue Fishery in Shropshire, and it succeeds the current British best that stands at 68lb 1oz, caught by Dean Fletcher in January this year.

Fishing a Mainline Baits prototype boilie from a swim called Pete’s Point, the 33-year-old not only smashed his personal best of 44lb, but came agonisingly close to breaking the 70lb barrier. 

He did it with a rig constructed from rig components made by PB Products.

“It was only my second time on the fishery and now I’ve caught this giant. It still hasn’t sunk in,” Tom told Angling Times.

“Rob was with me when I was playing the fish, and the fact that we knew it was Big Rig made the fight the most tense that I’ve ever experienced.

“The sight of those huge shoulders coming over the net is something I will never forget. It’s the biggest fish I’ve ever seen.”

The other side to the incredible story is that of Avenue owner and boss of RH Fisheries, Rob Hales.

Ever since he began making UK anglers’ big-fish dreams come true at venues that regularly produce fish over 50lb, he’s been adamant that he would ‘grow’ a British record carp.

And the fruits of his labours have come in the form of the incredible Big Rig – a fish that has benefited from being reared in a reservoir fitted with floating automatic feeding systems. Rob also hand-fed the giant with boilies and pellets at his state-of-the-art fish farm to make his record-breaking bid a reality.

“Myself and everyone at RH Fisheries would like to congratulate Tom on his amazing capture,” said Rob. 

“I always knew that it was possible to grow a British record carp, so it was never a case of ‘if’, but ‘when’.

“This fish was in the fish farm earlier this year, and I’d feed her two kilos of boilies and a couple of big scoops of pellets every morning – but I’m blown away by the fact that she weighed in at 58lb back in March and now she’s fast approaching 70lb.

“There are many out there who criticise what I do, but I don’t care because most of these people don’t know the time, dedication, commitment and passion it takes to rear these fish and grow them on to reach the weights they do.

“I challenge them to come to my facilities and see what it takes, and they might change their minds.

“Anglers used to have to pay lots of money and travel to France in order to catch fish like this, but now you can catch them here in the UK. 

“That’s great for our sport and the angling industry as a whole. More and more anglers want to catch carp, the bigger the better. That’s a fact.”

Rob is now nurturing thousands of Big Rig’s offspring, some of which he intends to grow on and stock into his own day-ticket fisheries. Others will be sold to carp fisheries across the UK.

“Growing big fish is very unpredictable, but to get stock from an incredible specimen like this is very exciting,” said Rob.

“Who knows how big she will grow in the future? The same goes for her offspring.”

• The fish was weighed on two sets of scales, and has been verified at 69lb 13oz. A record claim is being submitted.

Emotional personal best carp weighs 53lb 8oz

Craig McEvoy’s storming 2016 has continued with an emotional session at the Avenue.

Back in May, the Black Country carper landed five forties and three thirties in the same session at Acton Burnell, but his lastest trip to an RH Fisheries venue produced a new UK personal best.

In 48 hours at the Shropshire syndicate water, Craig caught a 53lb 8oz mirror plus three others of 35lb 8oz, 32lb 4oz and 27lb before packing up to go to a family funeral.

“I had to pack up for midday on the final morning as I had my uncle’s funeral to attend,” said Craig. “I had three fish on the final morning, which included the fifty that I caught in the final hour of the session.

“It sure was an emotional day.”

Craig fed a total of 4kg of Mainline Cell boilies and fished matching hookbaits on size 8 Korda Kurv Shank hooks tied to 15lb Korda IQ2 fluorocarbon.