november-2026-big-carp-part-1 - Flipbook - Page 108
BIG CARP / ON THE WATER
WALTHAMSTOW MONSTER
FROM THE WATER
Day one brought heavy winds and driving sleet showers. Before leaving,
Dave committed to the plan, prebaiting three hopper loads of broken
Mainline Baits New Nut boilie mixed with 10mm Cell using his Hunter 750
bait boat.
Returning the following morning, he positioned two rods over the prepared
area. At 10am, a drop-back bite initially felt like another big bream, but
it soon revealed itself as something far better. After a steady fight, Dave
landed the lake's Big Common at 50lb 1oz.
I had wanted to fish the Lower a year earlier, but I had way too much work
on. My first trip this spring was a blank. On my second, I hooked a good fish
only for the hook to pull in the margin. The next trip, another carp cut me
off. I couldn't believe the bad luck I was having.
I went back the following week with a plan to fish three-day sessions and
keep baiting the same area. The first day brought big winds and sleet, and
I was nearly blown away on the big reservoir. Before leaving, I bait-boated
three kilos of broken Nut boilie with 10mm Cell mixed in. The weather was
much better the next day. Although I felt the carp had moved, I knew the
Common loved the area I had baited. At 10am, my blowback rig was picked
up. I played what I thought was another big bream, and it wasn't until the
fish came close that I realised it was a carp.
I soon had it in the net. There was the biggest carp on the complex at 50lb
1oz. I spent a lot of time on this complex in the 1990s, so to come back and
catch this fish really means a lot to me.
The fish fell to a Blowback Rig tied with eight inches of 25lb CamoX coated
braid, a size 6 ApeX Beaked Point hook and Connexions shrink tube.
BIG CARP
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