In reply to Post #389
Dunno what of, but... I'm innocent!!!

Dean, Yateley South, S4 cc pop ups, what a lovely carp.



Josh, off the radar big mirror S2


Mark, second 39lb+ common in past few weeks from his Kent syndicate GPB1 over FishOn fermented particle


FishOn Ricci, part of a five 30lb+ haul from his Essex syndicate. Scopex/Pineapple & Hutchy S2 balanced over shops fermented particle and bollie crumb.

In reply to Post #393
The capped pipe, a very sad story 😒

Will make a good read for those that don't know the full goings on.

2006, scans of prints. Days only Sutton 2, the big fully. Day five as a member. I came out very last in the opening draw on day one. I could not get a swim on the first day. I had to wait until 1pm for someone to leave a swim which they had given up on. That evening, I lost the big common at the net (40+). The following day I caught the unknown mirror at 39lb15oz. I did not fish on the fourth day. On the fifth day I caught the big fully at 40+. She was my personal best for a while back then. Unfortunately she died last year. All of these fish and so many more came from a large undercut, which went some ten foot underneath a large trees root system, right under the bank. Undertows had carved out a large cave, where all of the big fish lived, they clearly dominated it as their own spot. Situated between the back pads swim, and the dead end swim, the tree roots were on a little point that jutted out. It was their cave, their home. No pasties allowed when the kings and queens of the lake were in residence. On every single lake you will have the same kind of areas. The spot which the biggest fish in the lake decide is their own. These areas will often be undiscovered by anglers for many years. It's where the fish hide from us when the pressure is on. The best of these areas are dominated by the biggest fish in the lake. They will always be the hardest places to cast a lead. I had to use a landing net pole to get the lead and the rig underneath the bank.

The Sonning Linear

If anyone remembers the very beautiful linear that Dave Lane caught from Sonning Eye at a similar time to him landing the big fish the Eye. It was a very spectacular long linear of epic proportions. As I have previously explained, all of these carp that Sonning contained back then were ex Thames carp, flooded in naturally in the first place. Including the Eye. That linear was a very classic Thames carp. They become land locked, until the next massive flood returns them to the river from wench they came in the first place. When Sonning floods, it is joined to the river in often ten places along nearly a mile of bank that borders the river Thames. That linear was one such fish that flooded back into the river. Although the monster fish the Eye was never seen again, the linear that Dave Lane caught from the lake at Sonning was seen again, I saw it myself in the Thames. It was caught from the Henley to Hurley stretch many years ago. Then it went on the missing list for the best part of a decade. It had got flooded back into the Thames, and the famous Eye clearly would have gone with it at the very same time. Considering that the linear only ever got caught ONCE when it entered the river again, who's to say that the Eye did not survive and just go onto the missing list. The aforementioned stretch is one of the longest on the Thames, and most of it has zero bank access. It was at the Hurley end of this stretch that I would encounter the stunning beast on a Summers day. I was fishing from an island. It was an absolute dream, no public, no dog walkers, complete peace. On the front of the island I had the weir on the Hurley stretch, the stretch which at the time contained the former Thames record linear. A completely different fish to the Sonning linear spoken about here. On the back side of the island, I had the lock cut of the Henley to Hurley stretch. There are three weirs at Hurley, all connected by back channels. The former Thames record linear used to live in one of these back channels for many years. It's where it was first caught from as a completely unknown fish. I had to boat my kit across the lock cut to access the island (no longer possible). One day I saw a fish cruising between the EA tugs moored there, a fish that blew my mind. It was the Sonning linear. It was now absolutely massive. It had been on the missing list since a bloke off the old Cemex forum “ExKingsMeadChef” had caught it further up the same stretch some decade before. I sort of became obsessed with catching him for a while. Took my eyes of the main prize slightly. I put that Sonning linear bigger than the Thames record, which was 47lb at the time. Stupidly long, and absolutely jet black. Carp simply do not get anymore proper than that fish. It's been missing again ever since I saw it that day. This was nine years ago now. It's very likely brown bread.











Ex Thames record linear, first time it was ever caught from the river by my friend.

Roach Pit 2013, BlackSpot. Another big mirror from the M tree line spot, in the gully out on the plateau. The otter fence provided the perfect marker for walking out the lines to place into the clips. All three leads would be cast six inches apart. The new ACE hooks were being tested at the time, these were sharpened to the maximum with a file. The spot was rock hard pure gravel. Any rig that did not get a bite, the hook would be blunted so badly from being repeatedly sucked and blown onto the gravel by big carp. They were so adapt at spitting out rigs for fun. I blunted FAR more hooks than I caught carp. I could go through two packs of hooks a trip, but only bank one big carp.

Even when I was not there the fish continued to show on the same spot. Over and over again. I had some of the best anglers around sneak out there in the boat for a look when I was not there... Confused as to why the carp would continually show on the same spot over and over again, when there had clearly been no bait on the spot for many days. Visibly to their eye there was no bait on the spot. It was only three foot deep and the water was crystal clear. There had been no bait on the spot for three or four days since I had left, but still the fish continued to show one after the other. They told me. This eventually led to said anglers asking, why is this happening? The answer was a build up of minerals and the fermented garlic, which I was applying through the hemp. This was leeching deep into the gravel. Those fish, would continue to scour the bottom out, showing like crazy many days after the last grain was long gone. It perked the attention of the better inquisitive anglers, who had never seen the like before.

You simply cannot ever achieve this type of feeding scenario with boiled baits.

2017. Looking down the public park moorings at Marlow on Thames, towards the church and bridge. The former England goalkeeper David Seaman used to live in one of those houses over on the right. The Thames carp which he caught a long time ago, were from his garden. Lucky man. The second boat moored on the left in the top scenic photo, was the photo spot for the self take photos of the gorgeous underslung mouthed linear.

In reply to Post #412
That's an incredible fish.

It's 06:00 here, I've been up since 04:00 writing this stuff whilst my family sleep. OldGeezer (Gerry) and another member of this forum Tim, who is also suffering a terminal illness like Gerry is. Both of them, have badgered me for ages to write a book about my fishing and the bait. That's just not me though, it never really has been. Ask the magazine editors/book producers who have always asked. But I will write stuff on here continuously for the next few weeks when I get the time. Just like now, mainly for those two constantly asking me. It's become something Gerry has mentioned so many times in the past year. So if you are reading this as a guest, and you like any of what you read... If you can afford it, please go donate a few quid to the hospice currently giving end of life care to Gerry, OldGeezer on here, OldGit on the old RMC/Cemex forum.

Tinhead has put a thread in General carp chat. They only get partial funding from the NHS, relying on charity.

The Hampton Hammerer.

My years fishing around Hampton, Weybridge and Walton On Thames, coincided with the serial killer Levi Bellfield prowling these same places for victims. He was stalking these areas at night, smashing young women over the back of the head with a hammer before dragging them off. He would later gain nationwide notoriety for snatching Millie Dowler from outside Walton train station after school. She went to the same school as my son. This episode traumatised my son and all of the kids at her school who knew Millie. For a few years before this, he was already well known locally by the name the ‘Hampton Hammerer'. The entire areas women were wracked with fear. I was asked over and over again by numerous locals who had become friends, why on earth I would actually chose to sleep outside in the most public areas, whilst there was an active nutter prowling the streets and parks at night. They could not get their head around it. My answer was always the same. If I could walk through the north Peckham estates at 04:00 without a single care in the world, or trot down Brixtons back streets late on a Saturday night. Then fishing in the very poshest parts of West London were literally the safest thing in the world to me personally. People die most days in the ghetto and no one hears about it. Some cowardly sex-pest serial killer targeting young women and girls, would need far more than his silly hammer if he was going to deter me going fishing at that time. Casper the carp dog would have literally had him for breakfast. Locals thought I was absolutely mental though. The entire surrounding areas would become like a ghost town late at night during the Bellfield years, until he was caught.

One night whilst fishing at Weybridge with a pal, we were shocked by armed police who basically rushed us from behind the brolly. Bellfield had smashed a European lady over the head with his hammer in Hampton that same night. Her possessions had just been found next to Walton Bridge, where he had clearly driven to after the attack and threw her stuff out of the car window. The police were searching for an active serial killer, they were not in anyway interested in us. But they absolutely scared us witless at 3am, we thought they were there for us! Over the next few days the police divers searched the river extensively by Walton Bridge. One of the divers was a carp angler who had been to France. He was going mental about four monster catfish, including one Albino that were sitting bold as brass under the bridge. They were monsters he said. I knew he was telling the truth the moment he mentioned the Albino. I had seen this very catfish myself in the entrance to Sheperton marina. One of the normal brown cats that policeman saw, was a catfish my friend Dave had previously broken the Thames Catfish record with from the marina swim.

The common, was my Thames PB for a long time. It's a scan of a print. Taken right outside the Thames Court pub/hotel, at the bottom of the Chertsey to Weybridge stretch. I clumped them from here, they often gathered behind the posts in the large area at the top of the weir.

River Medway in Kent. This fish was a well known old Ballast Pit fish from the 80's & 90's, that went by the name of the 'Little Leney'. I was told it eventually grew bigger than the fish in the same lake known as the 'big Leney'. It got flooded from the Ballast Pit more than a decade previous to this photo. First into Barden lake, then into the river itself. I caught it miles downstream from where it was initially flooded into the river. It was swept many miles in those initial floods. It took up residence in the Wateringbury stretch. It's really common for lake fish which get flooded into any river, to stop at the first stretch downstream of where they came in that has a marina. Wateringbury had that marina for this fish to hide in. It's somewhere for them to escape when the river is in flood every year. A saviour every winter from certain death for a clueless lake fish that ends up in a river. Most of them just get swept to their death when they get flooded in, then out to sea.

This one was a survivor. He would have gone over weir after weir. The marina gave it a place to hide and saved him when he first went into the river. It will be long dead now, it was already seriously old when I caught it.

In reply to Post #414
Enjoying this series. Pls keep it coming Mark - real fishing.........

In reply to Post #416
I'm glad you like it

This was 2007 I think. Johnson's Road & Island. The Beach swim, Road side. Opposite this swim at very long range, there is a massive gap in the long bar that runs the entire length of the Road lake. The bar has trees and bushes growing all over it. Similar to how the Snag lake used to be. Nowadays the gap in the bar is right in front of a load of houses on a large new build housing estate. When I was a child, that was the stables corner of the Snag lake over just beyond that far corner of the Road lake. I would often fish the snag lake in the stable's swim, whilst my old man was fishing nearby on the Road lake. Around where the car park is now, slap bang in front of the big gap in the bar. It had become fashionable in more modern times, to fish the 'drive in' swims further along the same bank at extreme long range, now that the entire far bank was no fishing. Fishing the snags right up the back in the far corner on the far bank. I caught so many from that Beach swim gap at long range, in such rapid time too. Lashings and lashings of fermented garlic hemp. Two big hits of fish. Unfortunately, Limp Tail and the Clive Williams fish were already dead. It was these two I went there to catch. Two of the best big mirrors that ever swam in the UK. Kept away from public consumption in the main for twenty years. I also dearly wanted to catch the Snag Lake mirror too, that was still alive, but I never got that in those trips before realising that Limp Tail was dead and jogging onto the Ocean. I'd caught the Snag Lake Mirror numerous times as a very young child, before it even had that name. When it was smaller and lived in the snag lake. It was one of the few snag lake fish that were relocated by locals, when it was clear the snag lake would be filled in for the housing estate. As previously mentioned, the mirrors from the snag lake were taken to a new stock pond type lake further down in Kent by at the time the new controlling club, where they eventually grew into monsters.

The fish below are 'The Perfect' common, and 'Black Spot'. I have terrible photographs of both. My camera had ran out of battery from catching to many in one trip. I think someone edited my photos of the Perfect on a Spectrum ZX81, before they ever passed the photos onto me.

Kindly, one of my customers Stevie, has allowed me to show both of these fish in corking previously unseen photographs from more recent times. He caught them both on our GPB2. He had his best ever years fishing by a long way, from the moment he first started ever using them.

These fish are so old, they are likely dead now.

The Perfect




BlackSpot


Stevie with the Perfect.






50 years being angled for, and still virtually mint. A testament to all of the anglers who fished the historic pit over the last 50 years.


Stevie with BlackSpot

Roach Pit, 2013. The big fully. I caught this fish from the little swim in the corner by the day swim. I caught her by walking the lake at 2am listening out for shows. They were showing in the open water at night, but returning to the snags during the day. Most of the fish were in the main snags, over by the outflow pipe from the farmers field opposite. But this big fully had taken up residence in a corner all on its own. Your ears are the very best weapon you have for locating carp at the right time. Knowing where the carp are during the day is good, but knowing where the carp are at night and early morning is far more important. They will never normally be in the same places as they are hanging around during the day. Yet no one ever walks the lake at night. This often leads to situations where carp anglers on any given lake, are all set up in the areas where the fish spend the days. Often shallower and weedy areas, or snags. Whilst the deeper, often weedless areas will be where they tend to head at night. Bite times. These areas will often be completely devoid of anglers. By being awake from 12am - 4am while everyone else is asleep, you find this out very quickly for yourself. You will also pin down the carp in your lake, gaining valuable information that no one else has. A simple S2 cast to the edge of the snags she was sitting in that morning, led to this carp being on the bank just an hour after casting out. Every broken freezer bait placed inside the snag as an appetiser, plus every broken bait placed around the rig was still there after the bite. If you are able to use a boat, you will see this very often when using our hook baits. Every single grain and crumb is still there after the bite. The S2 will go first virtually every single time without fail. This simply does not happen with anything else, not unless it is sight related, during the day. What makes them snatch the S2 first, is completely sensory related to food. Two completely different things entirely.

I have been very lucky to catch three beautiful large fully scaled carp. In my opinion, this is the second best of those three.

Those polaroid glasses up on that hat were a shocking decision for the photos. What a div.

Thames, around 2006, Hurst park, Hampton Sailing Club, willow tree photo spot again. One of a number of very distinctive fish which I caught back then, which I never saw another angler ever holding in a photograph. The fight from this fish was absolutely insane. I thought it was a catfish while playing it. The river widened considerably at this point where my swim was located. It was the reason the area was chosen in the first place. On a river, anywhere the river widens, will generally be shallower, and weedier. Virtually every single carp I caught from this swim was jet black. Tanned from laying in amongst the safety of the sailing club jetties and the shallow water behind the sailing club all day long in the sun. The sailing club is out of shot just to the left in the centre of the river on stilts. The island containing the houses is also just out of view to the right.

The pub lit up opposite is the Bell in Hampton.