Leaderboard

Been here since 9am got the rods out at 5pm it was a work party day 😲 We cleared lots of trees and I also cleared some weed out of another swim,

Was here at dinner time.... The Tempeat 200 is bigger than I thought, I've had to move swims 3 times 🤣🤣 Me, little en, Dog n mate.....mates lad did a few hours, he had 3 carp on zig, mate had 1 on zig, me n lad still blanking. The New Xtractor rods are something to get used too.

Sessions like that for a gorgeous fish, you can see the cheer or 'yes'.

A few of my captures were before camera phones etc but I do have stills of them somewhere. 27lb 8oz mirror carp called C scale, second biggest in the lake. I was probably 13 at the time and can still remember it going over the net. A pb for me. 29lb 2oz mirror from upper tamar when I was 16, my neighbour took me down there when I should of been on work experience but mum approved 🤣 the session went off with a bad start, slipped down a bank as I was wheeling my barrow around and broke one my rod tips 😠 my neighbour let me use his marker rod as a second rod. We prepared a 25kg sack of pigeon conditioner and filled in a massive area and fished over it. I was on a blank for 3 nights and then the marker rod screamed off resulting in a 29lb 2oz mirror. Even engraved its weight into my Coleman stove with a baiting needle which I still have somewhere 🤣 19lb common carp from a tidal stretch about 10 year back, brilliant fight 🤙 16lb 4oz mirror from squabmoor reservoir about 15 years ago. Spent over 100 nights in total and only had the one carp. Had an eel for 6lb too which was a cracker. 31lb 8oz common from chard reservoir is my current pb. Really chuffed with it, savage conditions, pretty sure there was a weather warning, at night I had to put a plastic bag on my bedchair to run the water off where it was leaking down the middle of the frame. Massive wind blowing into my face, nightmare baiting up but fun at the same time.

Earith, my second fish from the water, and 24lb. Just amazing how long ago it was as it seems like yesterday. The first fish was an 18lb wood carving common

We all have captures that we will always remember, for whatever reason. What’s yours? It may be a PB, or it may stick in your mind for another reason. Which ones are your favourite captures and why? The first carp was a mirror I caught on my first trip in 5yrs after afghan, I’d hung up the rods and was undergoing treatment, my counsellor told me to get back fishing so I replaced all my gear, rolled some bait and hit the bank. First rod out, 5mins in the water and it was away, it weighed mid 30s and I was instantly obsessed again. second carp was a 31lb common I caught on a session at a local pond, the wind switched unexpectedly in the night and picked up in force and it totally destroyed my brolly! The bailiff was telling me that this carp had been stolen the night before … I was able to send this pic to him the next morning the 3rd common was my personal target for years, I’d been baiting with my own boilies and he hadn’t succumbed… one winter session I’d forgotten the bait in the rush to the lake, so picked up a few pints of maggots. Fishing pva bags with a Medusa rig baited with maggots produced him at 37lb+ a week before Christmas. That left only one fish on my “hit list” which was no 4 in the pics! The mid 20 linear was also an elusive target. He also fell to the mighty maggots! My last two targets and I braced them. I walked off the lake a happy man that day.

Gutted for you and seeing the fish 😞… I thought you broke the rod.

Has he got planning permission for that bad boy...😛🤣

Highy mate you should have flashing warning lights on top of your bivvy for low flying aircraft you could be liable for accident. 😳

Mate bought me a little gift, honestly.....its brilliant.

Just had 1 on Zig, not massive, maybe scraper double.....mate bought me a gift to (in newest purchase)

Best of luck @ Highy and Elmo 🤞

Yes mate it will always be one to remember. The bailiffs played a massive part in it as they told me where some decent spots were to fish 👌 hope to get back up there soon 👍

Just got a nash titan xl with a door and groundsheet for 180. Only been used twice, looks mint condition 👍

On the trips to France I would soak the hemp and maize and cook on the bank, used a cheap cooker the ones that use a long gas canister one very big saucepan used one canister done all the cooking under a old brolly Physically I found it hard to spod a load of particles on a daily basis I don’t envy you especially if the wind blows a bit. Be great if you can keep us informed how you get on maybe with some pics 👍

Just 5 mins more 🤔

One from the other week.

I suppose my capture of pawprint my target for 4 years deserves to be on this thread so here he is from a different angle. Next pic will be of my next target a pb common if I’m ever lucky enough to catch one that is 🤞

He wanted to catch his first pike recently, he only had one…

Well been through some of my old photos & its actually reminded me how lucky I've been in the past to catch some of the fish I have , hopefully going to get out fishing more this year 🤞

this is my sons pb mirror that went 29lb - we were doing a night in a double swim, fishing identical baits, rigs, etc to a reedbed off an island. My son had 8 that night, topped by this otherwise unknown mirror. I blanked! he’s just done a new pb common of 26lb 5oz this week.

This was a memorable capture. All the other anglers on the lake thinking they gotta cast 120 yards to the middle and then there’s me sneaking round the edges of a 17 acre lake seeing fish plotted up away from the pressure. On this day I see the biggest carp I ever seen before in my life. I’m sure it was him! The biggest carp in the uk Marshall over 75lb. I’m sure I almost had him. See a few fish dropping down on my tiger nuts, He’s got a massive body and a small head and I’m sure he was there hanging around. Anyway I managed to hook one of his mates and everyone else was blanking, this one was small at 42lb 10 oz

Them Ardleigh fish. Spectacular. I’m no expert but I get the impression that they are old old ?

I also found the pics of the first 20lb fish from Trimley top lake

I’m sure this pic is already on here somewhere but seeing as I just found this thread I thought I’d post it here anyway , to this day my biggest and probably best looking fish . 28lb dead .

My first carp I caught off of our doc. I'll never forget it. I was by myself with just my phone for the pic. I had no landing mat yet so I held it the only way I could get a pic. I also took a short video about 10 seconds long. This carp is not my biggest but my first. I didn't have a scale or measuring tape so I could only guess at the weight.

Until a few months ago I hadn't been fishing for over twenty years. Since I've been back I've had some solid results culminating in this cracking scrapper that went 22lb 9. Not the biggest fish but it really put a huge grin on my face.

A full moon on my local river in France , i just had that feeling that i was going to catch , shame it was spawned out but still a cracker , untouched mouth , everyone should buy a permit for fishing in France once in their lifetimes and experience these amazing rivers !

I have some real memorable captures: A 28lb carp from the local river caught on a 3hour session, which for years was my largest fish and one I still class as a PB, my first 20lb fish from Earith, my first 30 from Nazeing Brackens, a 4 fish capture over 4 days in winter from the Central lagoon and my current largest fish at 33lb caught in December. Plus a number of fish from the 350acre Alton reservoir, 2 20's in one night, 23 and 28, a night with 3 20's that was so severe with wind and rain I could not get pics of the fish, my camera and phone were soaked through. Two of the most memorable though were 2 fully scaleds from Ardleigh on the night of the London bombings. Memorable not for the fish especially, but because I had a very close friend who was on the tube when one of the bombs exploded. I had tried to ring him on the first fish, but only got his answer phone, he always answered. Thank god he survived and we still fish together as much as we can. The 2 Ardleigh fish My first 30 at 32lb. It was also my first fish out of Brackens pool at Nazeing.

Lovely to read all your favourites guys well done 👍 I think I've got 3 or 4 main favourites lol, This was the one and only fish I ever put in carp talk early 00's I think 🙄, I had been really struggling to catch anything from this lake, but then I think probably on the advice of someone on here, I prebaited a swim for 2 weeks almost daily tbh after night shifts and all sorts, this one was the first of 5, my first 20lber at 26lb, I had another scraper 20 but I had learnt prebaiting works, I got 5kg of free pellets for that too 😂 Then from more recent times it was these 2 first trip back on Virginia after losing my dad, I had already had the confidence boosting 10 fish hit on the other lake pretty soon before and I felt in the zone, I had done a little baiting but then in evening I had this one New PB 27lb3oz, that alone would have been enough I was buzzing but in the morning I recast a bag into the hole in the weed and it ripped off And this one was the result proper buzzing and I remember the lucky moorhen, not sure it was coincidence or not but it always seems to appear at significant times was here for this one too, my favourite from this year so far 😉

There's a few that bring back special memories but if I had to pick one it'd probably be a low 20 mirror I had 20+ years ago. It was from an 80 acre park lake which held very few carp. I was a million out of my depth at the time and fished it for a year with nothing to show for it but I had a take in the autumn and landed this amazing chocolate coloured mirror. Obviously not massive but to this day it's one of the most beautiful carp I've caught. It sticks in my memory because it was that year that taught me the difference between chucking a bait in the water and waiting, and proper angling (observing and acting on what is observed). I learnt that you could easily waste you life away "sitting it out" and that if you want to catch special carp you need to put the effort in. It was significant as that capture gave me the confidence to target harder waters with bigger fish so ultimately it set me on a path to catch all my other favourite carp. I used to have a snap of the fish off an old disposable camera but it got chucked out by my Mum in the late 00's.......😭😂

Not my pb, but a real good looking fish from long ago. I wheeled him in 100 yds, and he took 1 look at me and went straight back out about 90, so I got to do it all over again. I suppose this one was memorable too, because it was just nasty out, cold and windy and we only got 1 bite, but I got the fish.

Just a hook pull at the net...😭😭😭 But that was enough... Lumpy went 30lb 8oz last time out...😭😭😭

Connected to the biggest fish in the lake, a half Linear called "Lumpy" on a heavy float rod... (a Marco Test and Fred Crouch Ariel) It didn't end well...☹😭