MOST WANTED! CARP WITH A PRICE ON THEIR HEADS…

The owner of one of the country’s biggest fisheries is offering visiting anglers the chance to pocket £10,000 if they can bank all five of the venue’s most sought-after carp.

The massive prize fund has been provided by Todber Manor Fisheries owner John Candy who, since 2018, has been creating incentives to get more people out fishing in the winter.

The £10k reward will run alongside Todber’s already successful ‘Most Wanted’ competition in which competing anglers are awarded points for catching the biggest and best carp on the complex. The angler with the most points at the end of the competition walks away with a £500 Todber Manor Fisheries gift voucher.

John said: “This is our second year running the ‘Most Wanted’ competition. The £500 voucher is already a superb prize, but catching our five biggest carp is now the ultimate challenge. I’m a gambling man, and if someone can pull it off I will be proud to hand over the money.”

Todber isn’t the only fishery offering cash rewards for catching prized carp. Aiden Hodge proved that by pocketing £1,000 after banking Lakeside View Carp Fisheries’ first-ever 40lb-plus specimen.

He said: “I’m blown away – to not only catch my first UK 40 but to win the prize pot. Pete at Lakeside is making dreams possible and I think other fisheries should follow suit.”

The cash incentive has been a massive hit with anglers visiting the Devon fishery, according to owner Peter Grandfield.

He added: “Our prize pots are very popular with visiting anglers and pay out between £3,000 and £4,000 a year.

“I would say 90 per cent of visitors pay into it, but we have had an occasion where one of the target fish was landed without the captor paying into the pot – an expensive mistake to make!

“The competition is all funded by anglers – we may start the pot off with £50 to get it going, but then anglers pay £1 from their ticket to enter the prize pool, and if they catch one of the targets they take home the pot.

“We cap the pots at £1,000 and then start another, so there’s always something to go for. 

“This most recent pot ran for 12 months. We pick challenging targets for our anglers, so the pot grows to a high sum.

“If anyone feels like they’ve got what it takes to catch our biggest carp, I urge them to come down and participate!”