Fishing safe at Cotswold Water Park
NATURAL England has assured anglers that fishing will continue at Cotswold Water Park despite its new status as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The announcement was welcomed by anglers who had concerns for fishing on the park’s 177 lakes.
Dan Garner of South Cerney AC told us:
“NE told us the SSSI status won’t make any difference to fishing and fears about a closed season being enforced have also been put to bed.”
Fishing will continue on the Cotswold Water Park despite the new SSSI status
Rare tiger carp sold for whopping £2500!
AN EXTREMELY rare strain of carp that’s believed to be the first of its kind in the UK has fetched £2,500 in an online auction.
The colourful 13lb mirror, which has been nicknamed the Tiger Carp for its distinctive black stripes, was snapped up by Todber Manor Fisheries co-owner Linda Candy after renowned fish farmer Mark Simmonds advertised its sale.
An opening bid of £500 kicked off proceedings, but it wasn’t long before fishery owners across the nation were making offers left, right and centre to claim ownership of the unique fish.
It’s understood that Linda purchased the carp as a surprise for her husband John. It will be delivered to the fishery in February.
Angling club set to lose their historic carp
MEMBERS of a Hampshire club lake are running out of ideas to save their beloved carp after plans were set in motion to dispose of the fish to encourage the growth of rare underwater plants.
Oakhanger AC’s Shortheath Pond contains an estimated 100-150 carp between 10lb and 30lb, but Hampshire County Council has now ordered the club to remove them on behalf of Natural England because they’re preventing the plants from thriving on a lake that falls within a Site of Specific Scientific Interest.
One of the carp that potentially could be killed as a result of the decision by Natural England
The club’s committee have an opportunity to fund a health check for the carp so they can be moved, but lifelong Oakhanger member Kevin Charman believes it could be a little too late…
“Natural England is contracted to remove the carp in early 2021 but there’s a high chance these fish won’t pass the health check,” Kevin said.
“Even if they do, the EA won’t allow us to transfer them into the club’s other carp water, as it isn’t landlocked.
“It’s heartbreaking to think that the carp I’ve known for the last 40 years will end up being buried in the ground, but that’s the reality we’re facing if nothing changes soon.”
Shortheath Water is set to lose its carp
Last gasp fish secures £50,000 match win - How this year's Golden Reel was won
TONY Coates is the new Golden Reel Angling Champion, earning himself a £50,000 pay day.
Tony Coates with the Golden Reel trophy
Lining up as one of the 40 semi-finalists in a one-off eliminator at Larford on the Wednesday before the final, Beverley-based Tony won it with 200lb-plus from peg 28 on the grass bank of the Match Lake – and then went and drew it again for the final!
This time, though, 68-1-0 was enough to win by just 9lb from Welsh rod John Hannam, who was on the end peg of the burr bank. Tony takes up the story...
At the peg
“I felt the end pegs would dominate, so I was pleased to have one. I set up a mugging rig plus 6m and 16m pole lines, margin rigs, and a bomb and Method feeder rod to chuck to the point of the island. I planned to start on the pole short and work my way out.
“On pellet short at 6m I had nothing for 30 minutes. I moved out to 16m, but the wind made it hard to fish here, pinging pellets over the top. I did catch a couple of carp, but it was a real sit-and-wait job.
“The bomb to the island caught me one more carp. Although I managed two on the mugging rig I felt this wasn’t the right method, so it was back on the bomb with 8mm pellet, when I caught two more carp.”
Tony in action
A burst on the Method
“At around 2.30pm I had a look in the margins but the fish were very spooky, coming into the edge but then bow-waving off once you put the pole over their heads.
“It was time to pick up the Method and cast a metre away from where I was fishing the bomb, using a wafter on the hook. Three carp in three casts took me into the lead! But with an hour to go John Hannam began to catch quickly – if his carp were big, I felt he could overtake me in no time.”
Last-gasp carp!
“With half-an-hour to go I snapped my feeder off, so I cast the bomb back out, turned around to pick up another feeder and the rod almost got pulled in!
“With that fish in the net, I set the Method up, chucked it out and caught a carp straight away. Then it went dead.
“I’d still fed the pole lines but had left them alone for a long time. Dropping in at 6m with pellet I foul-hooked a 5lb carp but landed it, then lost another next drop-in.
“The last 10 minutes or so were spent out at 16m on the deck, and with 30 seconds to go I nailed another 5lb fish. Would this be the one to win me the match?”
A last gasp fish secured £50,000
Enough for victory?
“Talk was that I’d won, although John had been catching really well with big fish too. My two late carp seemed to have kept him at arm’s length, however, so I was confident – although 68lb is a very low weight for Larford. I was hoping no-one had sneaked a few big fish out without anyone seeing.
“You couldn’t follow the scales around, so I sat tight and waited anxiously for John’s weight to be broadcast on the tannoy.
“There was relief when his total was confirmed at 59-1-0, more or less one carp behind me. I honestly believe if we’d fished for another 15 minutes he might have beaten me, and without a doubt I owe a lot to those two fish I caught at the death!”
Tony with his catch
Record-breaking reel finally found!
The reel used by Dick Walker to catch his record carp has been found, restored and reunited with the rod which made history.
The whereabouts of the Mitchell half-bail reel used to land Clarissa from Redmire Pool at 44lb in September 1952 had been unknown for years until the recent discovery. Antique tackle collector Chris Sandford – who already owns the rod used on that historic day – is the proud new owner of the reel.
Chris Ball and Chris Sandford with rod and reel
He told Angling Times:
“Although I have made endless enquiries trying to track down the reel that Walker used when he caught the record, no one had any idea where it might be hiding. That was until I got a call from carp historian Chris Ball. His first sentence stopped me in my tracks: ‘Morning, mate, I think I might have found the Clarissa reel!’.”
The pair then spent six weeks confirming the provenance of the reel, which had been found by an unnamed owner in a bundle of tucked-away items.
“When Chris and I were both satisfied that the story was completely genuine,
I made an offer that was accepted,” said Chris Sandford.
The reel was then sent to rod restorer Jonathon Savory, who recently rejuvenated the MKIV carp rod which Walker used to land Clarissa.
Dick Walker with Clarissa
In a note to Chris, Jonathon said:
“As you might expect, it was internally clogged with all manner of grease and grime. After a careful disassembly and intense cleaning, I only had to replace a couple of shims to get it running perfectly.
“I know you were a little concerned about the reel’s appearance, but I honestly feel that the external wear only heightens the sense of history surrounding what was, until recently, considered to be a lost artifact.
“Reunited with Walker’s MKIV rod, it must form a pairing of invaluable importance to the world of carp fishing.”
Vintage rod restorer Jonathon Savory
Canal carp is one-in-a-million - Josh Cooper
“While walking my dogs along the local canal I spotted some carp next to a lock. Over the next two weeks I threw in handfuls of pellets and crushed boilies to the area with the plan to fish it on a Friday after work.
“I got settled into my swim for 6pm and cast two PVA bag rigs containing the same feed mixture of pellets and boilies, alongside CC Moore Pacific Tuna wafters.
“At 2am I awoke to a screaming alarm and ran to the rod barefoot because I couldn’t get my shoes on quickly enough! After a minute I got him up to the surface and got a peep of his white head.
“I thought I’d caught a ghost carp, but when I’d got him in the net I saw the rest of his golden body and white tail. I’ve looked online and can’t a find another fish like it – it’s certainly a one-in-a-million catch.”
Josh Cooper and his half ghost/half common carp
40lb-plus carp taken...on the POLE!
YOU don’t always need beefy rods and big hooks to land massive carp, as Dean Rowden proved this week when he banked a 44lb giant while targeting silverfish on the pole.
The keen match angler, from Southampton, was on holiday in France and knew the day-ticket lake he visited at Etang De La Chauffie, Pressignac, held some big mirrors and commons.
His trip got off to a flying start when he ticked off a new 34lb personal best specimen using Method feeder tactics, but little did he know that switching target species would lead to an even bigger surprise.
After deciding to have a go for the lake’s resident tench and roach using pole tactics, he rigged up with a 5lb hooklength and size 14 hook baited with worm.
Dean says:
“I got a bite, struck, and thought I’d finally hooked a tench, but it didn’t take long to realise that a fish of a lifetime was attached to the other end!
“It fought for more than 40 minutes and the moment I saw it I called for my dad to borrow a much bigger landing net!”
Dean Rowden and his 44lb mirror carp caught on the pole
700lb-plus haul smashes match record!
THE six-hour match record at a top northern fishery has just been obliterated with an incredible 714lb 15oz of carp.
Mosella Quaker-backed bagger James Roper was fishing peg 38 on Angel of the North Fishery’s Bowes Lake when he netted fish to 14lb on a mixture of margin and shallow tactics to beat the 642lb best.
“On the day my peg looked perfect as it was red hot and the wind was blowing in,” he told us.
“In the first hour alone I had 100lb down the edge on 6mm expanders over micros, then for the rest of the match I caught steadily on 8mm hard pellets fished shallow at 10m range.
“The peg was solid, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t exhausted – I even had cramp in my forearms three times!”
Using a strong pole and a size 20 elastic, James landed a carp every two minutes and ended the contest with 17 keepnets in the water – half of which he stored in the next peg due to a lack of room!
Just part of James Roper’s phenomenal haul of carp
British Record Crucian Carp - The Full Story
A CARP angler has etched his name into the annals of angling history after slipping his net under a new British record crucian weighing 4lb 11oz.
The stocky specimen, which pips the previous record for the species by just 1oz, fell to Craig Smithson during a 48-hour stay on Dorset’s Milton Abbas syndicate lake.
Craig Smithson holds aloft a fish that looks set to be the new British record Crucian Carp
In an attempt to lure one of the lake’s resident carp, the 39-year-old fished a red 15mm fishmeal pop-up next to a lily bed that he’d baited with chopped 18mm boilies and pellets.
By the time dawn broke on the final morning of his session, Craig only had a tench to show for his efforts, but his fortunes took an unexpected twist at 9.30am when one of his rods signalled a twitchy take.
“The bobbin danced up and down so I just thought it was another tench,” Craig tells us.
“After picking up the rod, I wound down until I felt resistance, then started to draw the fish to the bank. It didn’t put up much of a fight but when I saw the golden flanks of a giant crucian in the edge rather than a bright green tench, I just stared at it in shock, before the panic set in.
“I scrabbled along the bank to get my net and quickly scooped it up as soon as I could.
“As I gazed down the crucian just seemed to get bigger and bigger and I was slowly realising the magnitude of what I’d caught.”
The crucian was nearly 40cm in length and 21cm wide
While resting his prize in the margins Craig rang the fishery’s owner, Wayne Little, who rushed down to the bank with his own set of scales.
By this point, three other syndicate members had also arrived on the scene to witness the weighing, measuring and photographing of the new British best.
“In the end we weighed the crucian five times on three sets of Reuben Heaton scales and each registered a matching weight of 4lb 11oz,” Craig adds.
“I was just in complete awe and trying to soak up the fact that I was holding angling history in my hands.
“To catch something that’s the biggest in the country, by design or not, is the ultimate angling achievement in my opinion, so I’m just mega pleased it’s happened to me.”
Craig has submitted a claim to the British Record Fish Committee (BRFC), to which he has already posted a set of the Reuben Heaton scales used to weigh the crucian so that they can be tested for accuracy.
A list of the witnesses’ names and their contact details, in addition to two scale samples taken from the fish, have also been provided to the BRFC to help bolster the claim and prove that the crucian is a true strain and not a hybrid.
“If the crucian is accepted as a new record then fantastic, but if it isn’t then it won’t be the end of the world,” Craig adds.
“It was just fantastic to see this fish in the flesh.”
Craig’s groundbreaking capture will come as a shock to some, but not to Milton Abbas owner Wayne Little, who says it was only a matter of time before his eight-acre lake produced a record-beating crucian.
He said:
“Around 20 years ago we stocked probably 1,500 crucians and from what I can gather there are only around 20 to 30 left, but they’re all of specimen size now.
“Last season the lake produced fish of 3lb 15oz and 4lb for one of our members, and two years ago a crucian that looked much larger than Craig’s fish was discovered in a routine netting – so I knew we wouldn’t have to wait long to see a really special one on the bank. I’m made up for Craig.”
Milton Abbas is now home to record Crucian Carp
Club sets up carp retirement home
ONE OF Britain’s biggest angling clubs has adopted a forward-thinking approach to fish welfare by retiring any carp it finds in its waters with mouth damage to specially set-aside stock ponds.
The refreshing move comes from Cheshire outfit Lymm AC, whose officials discovered the problem after netting the Rowan and Yew Tree ponds on its Belmont complex near Northwich.
“There was evidence of mouth damage on our carp, which had been caused by anglers,”
says club fisheries manager Neil Boaz,
“so we decided to retire those fish to ponds where no fishing is allowed.
“These aren’t just holes in the ground like you’d normally see on a fish farm – they’re mature waters with well-established habitats, and the fish going into them will be fed regularly.
“By retiring some of the stock, we hope that the venue will lose its runs water tag and will become a complex focusing on fish welfare, containing only specimens that are in pristine condition.”
The club plans to introduce other progressive measures to boost the protection afforded to its prized stocks.
“We’ll be removing snags, which can tether fish, and creating extra natural cover for them to use as refuge from predatory birds.
“In addition, there will be rules brought in requiring anglers to carry carp medical kits to treat any damage, as well as a new booking system on the waters,” Neil adds.
“Anglers will be more accountable for their time on the bank, which in turn will help to eradicate some of the bad practices seen on the complex in the past.”
A good idea by Lymm AC?
Beautiful reservoir koi taken on the fly!
When 15-year-old Albert Coales and his dad, Rob Edmunds, went afloat on Grafham Water, the last thing they were expecting to catch was this vibrant koi carp, weighing around 25lb.
After a morning spent targeting the lake’s zander, the pair headed to a sheltered area of the lake for lunch, at which point Albert spotted the colourful fish feeding by some overhanging willow trees.
“I told him to leave it alone, but he really wanted to catch it,” Rob tells us,
“so he had a cast, but his fly ended up in the willows! I said to gently tease it out and, amazingly, it plopped perfectly on to the surface a short distance in front of the cruising carp.”
It didn’t take long for the fish to engulf the fly, and then it was game on!
“We were lucky that the fish didn’t head for the weedbeds, as Albert was using a light 4-weight rod,” Rob adds.
“As we brought it towards the boat the bottom became stirred up and we couldn’t see a thing, but I plunged the net beneath the surface and the fish swam straight in!
“Albert was delighted and wouldn’t stop talking about it!”
Albert Coales wasn’t expecting anything like this on his trip to Grafham
YOUR top 10 catches of the week!
WE receive so many catch reports here at Angling Times, that sometimes it is just impossible to fit them all in the magazine. We do, however, always love seeing and hearing of our readers top catches.
Here are some of the best fish we have been sent this week, some of which haven’t made the magazine but are still more than worth celebrating…
Remember to grab a copy of Angling Times every Tuesday, to read more of the latest big fish catches and exclusive Drennan Weekly Award winning specimens.
Shaun Markey nets four Trent doubles
A session on the River Trent in the pouring rain paid off hansomely for Shaun Markey. Casting a 5oz feeder and a Shrimp boilie to the middle of the river, he caught four barbel weighing 11lb, 12lb, 13lb and 15lb. Well worth getting soaked for!
One of four double figure Trent barbel for Shaun Markey
Shock River Soar sturgeon!
Jerry Botham had a rather large surprise recently, when on a trip to the River Soar in Sutton Bonington he caught this huge 39lb sturgeon. A new personal best and a very powerful fish.
Jerry Botham and his 39lb river sturgeon
River Can trout
The River Can in Chelmsford, Essex, produced this beautiful 5lb brown trout for Khan Emin. With the river slightly flooded, he used a big worm to catch the fish.
Khan Emin with a beautiful 5lb River Can trout
Light gear tames a big chub
“I had a lovely June the 16th. Trotting maggots on a size 16 Drennan Wide Gape hook, I caught this 5lb 1oz chub. It took a long time to land it on 4lb mainline and a 2lb hooklink. But eventually, with three people watching, I got it in the net and received a big round of applause. I felt like being on the England team!”
Trotted maggots are deadly for chub
Casters fool big tidal barbel
Paul Hamshaw caught this 14lb 12oz barbel from a private stretch of the tidal Trent. The fish picked up Paul’s caster hookbait, fished over a bed of hemp, in the middle of a scorching hot day.
He told Angling Times:
“I've had four fifteen pound barbel but this was the hardest fight I've ever had from one”
Paul Hamshaw caught this Trent barbel on a boiling hot day
Trio of Norfolk perch
An awesome session on the River Bure in Norfolk resulted in a catch of three 2lb perch for Peter Savory. In just an hour of angling he caught stripeys weighing 2lb 7oz, 2lb 5oz and 2lb 3oz. A great start to the season.
Peter Savory and one of his River Bure perch
Big ghostie pinnacle of ten years angling
“I am absolutely buzzing with this fish. It is the best I have ever caught. I have been fishing for the past 10 years, started when I was 14 with my dad. It came at midday on a local carp lake”, said Adam Minto.
Adam Minto was made up with this beautiful big ghost carp
“You are never too old to have a pb!”
Nige Fox caught this 3lb rudd whilst fishing a North Yorkshire syndicate lake. He told Angling Times:
“This bettered my pb of 2lb 4oz, that I caught two weeks ago from the same venue.
“It took two hours to get the fish feeding. They liked double sweetcorn, fished over a bed of mixed pellets.
“I couldn't believe the size of the rudd when I slipped it into my landing net.
“It proved to be the only rudd of the session. But I also caught six carp between 4 & 6lb. But the rudd was most definitely a career highlight.
“I'm 64 years old, and live in Leeds, West Yorkshire. I started fishing when I was four years old.
“Just goes to show, you never are too old to have a pb!”
A lovely 3lb rudd and a new pb!
Big Severn barbel brace
Mark Wood caught not just one big River Severn barbel but two, for a stunning 31lb brace. Both were caught on legered luncheon meat in afternoon and evening sessions.
15lb-plus River Severn barbel
15lb-plus River Severn barbel
Urban barbel is a new best
Fishing the River Aire in Leeds City Centre, David Aldred connected with this 11lb 6oz barbel. A new personal best, David had to weigh the fish twice as he was in shock at how thick it was. He used Hinders Elipse pellets in various sizes to get the fish feeding.
David Aldred and his 11lb 6oz barbel
We love seeing your captures so please keep sending them. Either by emailing newsdesk@anglingtimes.co.uk or sending us a message on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Giant albino grass carp...from a river!
YOU won’t come across a more unusual river capture this season so far, than that of Kelly Crush. Who on her first session of the river season caught this clonking 20lb albino grass carp.
Not your typical river capture…a 20lb albino grass carp
Fishing a stretch of the River Rother, Kelly was lost for words when the fish that she had seen three years previous was finally in her net.
“To say I was on cloud nine wouldn’t come close to the elation I was feeling”, she said.
Reflecting on catching the giant river ornamental, Kelly told Angling Times:
“It’s a fish I first spotted back in November 2017 while deadbaiting for pike. From that day on it became my target, and come the beginning of the 2020 river season I was raring to go.
“I’d spent two months baiting a swim 1.5km from where I park my car, so after arriving on June 15 for a three-day session I used an inflatable dinghy with an electric outboard to take all my gear to the spot.
“The first two days of my session passed with nothing more than a few bream, so when the bobbin rose again I thought it was another of the same. But after striking I felt something powerful on the other end surge upriver. It fought really hard down in the depths and when it eventually surfaced I saw which fish it was. I screamed to my fishing companion, Ted: “It’s the albino!” and we slipped it into the net.
“I lost a shoe releasing it and went home sunburnt, covered in mosquito bites and silt – but it was all worth it!”
Kelly was lost for words after catching this 20lb albino grass carp
To follow more of Kelly’s fishing adventures, check her out on Instagram - @fishing_with_kelly_crush
Biggest F1 ever landed!
The biggest F1 ever recorded has been caught by a carp angler from a Lancashire club water.
David Williams got a huge shock when he netted the colossal 13lb 8oz specimen during a recent carp fishing trip. The fish is considerably bigger than the assumed ceiling weight of F1s, which normally grow to a maximum of about 6lb.
A cross between crucian and common carp, F1s were first farmed 30 years ago to provide year-round sport on the growing commercial match scene.
Simon Hughes, who created the breed, tells Angling Times:
“That is definitely an F1, and by the looks of it it’s one of ours.
“It’s the biggest I’ve heard of, so it’d be a record as far as we’re aware.”
There has never been an official British record for F1s and Simon said the biggest he had previously encountered were around the 9lb-10lb mark.
David (46) caught the new unofficial British best while targeting specimen carp with a 14mm pop-up boilie on a chod rig.
“It gave me a proper scrap,”
said David, who weighed the fish on Reuben Heaton scales.
“When it came in I looked at the lateral line, and then saw no big barbules, and thought it had to be a huge F1.
“My friend had one weighing 10lb 6oz from the same water last winter, so I knew there were a handful of big ones in there.”
David Williams and the unofficial F1 record
New body formed to protect wild carp
EFFORTS are under way to create a new charity aimed at protecting and encouraging the oldest strain of carp in the UK.
Wild carp, also called wildies, are small, fully scaled fish that were first introduced to our waters in medieval times. They don’t grow to anything like the size of the carp dominating modern day fisheries, and today are thought to only survive in around a dozen or so traditional waters such as estate lakes. But that could all change for the better if the new organisation, set to be named the Wild Carp Trust, is created.
The new body is the brainchild of Nigel Hudson, who was inspired by the existing Wild Trout Trust.
“Our goal is to raise awareness of the value and appeal of wild carp, and secure waters where these strains can be protected,” Nigel said.
For more information visit: www.wildcarptrust.org
Tench rig fools big common not caught for nine years
Warren Hammond hooked something far bigger than he expected on a recent tench fishing trip - a 36lb 4oz common carp!
Fishing an undisclosed Surrey Gravel pit, Warren was aiming to catch a specimen tench but the big carp beat them to the bait.
He told Angling Times:
“On arrival, I Spombed in a load of hemp, wheat, tares and dead maggots and cast a maggot feeder rig with five maggots on a size 10 hook over the top.
“At 3am I was woken by a screaming run as a powerful fish took about 30 yards of line.
“Eventually I could see this lovely dark common which plodded about in front of me before being netted. I was later told it was last caught in 2011!
Not my PB common, but up there with the best!”
This big common slipped up on tench tactics after being uncaught since 2011!
"These day-tickets aren't what carp angling is about" - Reader Letter
I can’t get my head around the day-ticket palaver surrounding carp. Now it seems you have to book a swim, knowing full well that someone’s been in it for probably 48 hours before you set up. You’re paying out £50 to fish blind.
I was lucky enough to be on the syndicate where Chris Yates filmed The Secret Lake, where you could rock up and look for hours before you chose a swim. This is what carp angling should be about.
On day-ticket waters you can’t be mobile because that’s your allocated spot. Yet it seems that big fish rule the roost, even if you are fishing a three-year old hole in the ground.
These guys should look at joining a good club for about £200 for the year. Many of these have excellent stillwaters, some only lightly fished. For the price of four 48-hour sessions on a carp puddle, they could be fishing somewhere excellent.
Larry Sprusen, Tisbury, Wiltshire
This is what carp angling should be about.
Should we shut down for spawning carp? - Rob Hughes
There was an interesting discussion across social media recently asking whether it is acceptable for fisheries to close completely when the resident carp are spawning.
We don’t do it when the roach or tench are spawning, and we certainly don’t do it when the pike and perch are either. In fact, we often target these species when they’re at their highest weights during these periods.
Right now, we’re bang in the middle of carp spawning season and I’m sure we all agree that targeting any fish when they’re spawning is not the done thing. The truth is that they’re unlikely to feed anyway, but the risk comes during the immediate aftermath.
Many fisheries are carp orientated, and when the resident fish look like spawning, or actually start to spawn, the fishery closes, often for up to two weeks. I get that catching carp is an occupational hazard of tench and bream angling, so that might be risky, but if you’re a general coarse angler wanting to avoid carp you potentially lose your sport because something you don’t fish for needs a break.
Often as a result of numbers of anglers, and certainly as a result of financial value, carp are the dominant species in fisheries and set the benchmark for fishery practice and management. But what about matches? Spawning fish put matchmen and organisers in a precarious position.
I believe in the argument that spawning fish, whatever they are, should be left alone and also have a recovery period, but should whole lakes close down for carp?
We don’t consider shutting down for tench.
First ever chub is over 8lb!
Anglers getting back on the rivers today are bound to run into a chub or two, but they are unlikely to meet a specimen of this size so early in the season.
The monstrous fish pictured weighed in at a whopping 8lb 3oz and was caught by Henry Chilton from a Derbyshire Stillwater.
The shocked carp angler told Angling Times:
“With my mind set on carp I headed to a mixed coarse fishery in Derbyshire before dawn for a planned overnighter.
“The owner told me that a handful of chub were introduced in the late 1990s but were rarely ever seen, so I didn’t take much notice. I was soon settled into a swim with lily pads around 50yds away. I baited it with 12mm and 16mm glugged Krill boilies and cast a 12mm pop-up over the top. As the sun started to peak over the trees my bobbin dropped to the deck.
“The fight was just like a small carp but near the net I saw a flash of silver and realised it wasn’t what I was after. I’d never seen a chub, so I wasn’t sure what it was!
“The owner came down to help me weigh it and said: ‘That’s a beast of a chub – that’s massive.’
“I’m only 19 and my first-ever chub was 8lb 3oz! It’s probably the best fish of my life and I doubt I’ll ever catch a bigger one.”
Henry Chilton with his first ever chub at 8lb 3oz!
Return to fishing sees anglers snap up over 42 tonnes of bait!
AN INDEPENDENT bait company sold over 42 tonnes of particles to anglers over the course of the May bank holiday weekend.
Staffordshire firm Monster Particle ran a 50 per cent-off deal on all of its prepared baits running from Friday to Monday, but orders were so intense that the 12-strong team had to work overtime to process each one!
Monster Particle’s owner Kieron Wood tells us:
“That bank holiday has probably been our most profitable ever and we’re now running at around 80 per cent up on last year’s sales.”
According to Kieron there was no one bait that sold better than the rest, with the phone ringing off the hook from customers who wanted everything from hemp to tigers.
“With free shipping on orders over 60kg it’s easy to see why there was an order average of 60kg-100kg!” he says.
“Considering how uncertain times have been recently, it’s been a fantastic response from anglers who are still keen to enjoy their sport and support the industry,” Kieron adds.
Staff at Monster Particle had to work overtime to meet the orders from anglers over the bank holiday weekend.