Free Line 109 — October 2026 - Flipbook - Page 204
ALEX
GRAHAN
PAUL HANSON
STEVE
BENNETT
BRIGGS
STEVENS
achievement for the river these days. I’ve got friends that have had in excess
of two hundred carp out of the Thames and only had one thirty. I’m also
talking about ‘main river’ fish, not a lake that the fish can’t return to the
river from or landlocked between weirs on parts of the river with a different
name.
For me, the epitome of a Thames carp is one that if it so desired, could
swim up to Lechlade or down to London Bridge. I’m very fortunate that I’ve
also got a few friends that keep track of Thames carp, and this one was easily
identifiable, as apart from being a mirror, it had a chopped bottom lobe of its
tail. After a quick search, I was sent a pic of when it was caught some years
before by a mate of mine four sections downstream and another pic from
even further away. They all have a story to tell.
This brings me on to another subject, which was raised on Facebook by
a Thames angler I have a lot of respect for – Neil Wayte. I referred to it as
Chopped Tail on my Facebook post, and he commented, “Don’t start naming
them!” LOL. I do agree with him in most respects, but I was just describing
the fish. I had one from Thames Ditton years ago, which was known as Floppy
Tail, a fish which I’d seen a few years ago on the front of UK Carp mag when a
friend of mine, Terry Hearn, had it from Kingston one winter. Unfortunately,
I also saw it in the Anglers Mail not a year after I had it with an unscrupulous
angler claiming it to be over 32lbs. It was 21lb 12oz when I had it, and it was
known to have been around that weight for years.
The most famous Thames carp I knew of when I was growing up was one
called the Schoolgirl, an old school fully scaled carp that fuelled my interest in
the river many years ago. So it’s not like they’ve never been named, although
I do prefer the names to be a description of the fish. One plus point is that
in this day and age of carp fishing booming and social media, there is more
and more knowledge and records of Thames fish. This should hopefully stop
people taking them out and stocking their own venues for their own profits.
A main river Thames fish is a fish of the people – power to the people!
FREELINE 90
