BRITAIN’S record common carp has come out at 63 lb five months after its last capture at 64 lb – incredibly, to the same angler.
Mike O’Neill landed the giant common carp called Tarka from RH Fisheries’ The Avenue syndicate in Shropshire.
The lake is the former home of the controversial Big Rig at 71 lb 4 oz, a colossal specimen that was rejected by the British Record Fish Committee. Big Rig has since died.
Mike, 43, told Angler’s Mail: “I’ve only been on the water two years and this season has been very good.
“Since the first capture I’ve had about five others to 48 lb but I had a car crash in November and that hampered my fishing and I’ve had just four trips since and two of those were frozen off.
“I’m overjoyed to catch her again. She’s got such a big frame that I’m sure she will get a lot heavier and I expect her to put on quite a few pounds before May.
“It was weird the second capture as the bite was exactly the same with the bobbin just being pulled to the top and the fight was very similar.
“I told the others I recognised the fish even before she came to the surface,” added Mike.
The communications engineer from the Wirral presented a 12 mm Mainline Essential Cell pop-up on a size 6 hook at 80 yards. He was offered over 10 mm freebies that had been covered hemp oil.
Common carp Tarka is the second biggest known carp alive, behind mighty mirror carp Captain Jack at 68 lb 5 oz at Cambridgeshire’s prolific Holme Fen. The captor of the giant at that weight, ‘Bill’, didn’t want any publicity or desire to claim the record.
The official record carp remains as The Parrot from Berkshire’s Wasing Estate at 68 lb 1 oz. That famous specimen sadly died last year.
The second biggest UK common carp ever recorded was the Lee Jackson Common from Kent’s Strawberry Fields to Leanne Jaynes at 63 lb 4 oz. That fish hasn’t been caught for at least a year.
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