THIS stunning heavyweight is Britain’s first common carp over 65 lb.
Rob Hales created his own history with a rod when he landed the UK’s first common carp over 65 lb.
He did it with this 65 lb 2 oz fish from his own water, The Avenue.
The RH Fisheries boss has created an amazing series of lakes in Shropshire.
Rob grew on a mirror called Big Rig that topped 70 lb before sadly passing away last year.
Finally ‘fishing time’ for Rob Hales
After finding some rare time to fish himself, businessman Rob Hales got in on the action himself to tempt Tarka, the giant common.
Rob explained: “I’ve managed to find a bit of time recently as my son has started working for me and that’s freed some personal time for me.
“So I managed to do three nights and first of took a new PB mirror of 48 lb 12 oz plus another of 39 lb.
“Then I managed to take Tarka which I’ve seen grow on from 30 lb and then caught at 40 lb by Steve Hall in 2014 and he’s grown steadily since.
“We believe it is a male fish and not much older than 15 years old so there is potential for him to get to 70 lb but the main thing is to keep the fish healthy.
“I used the boilies we make here called The Edge and fed 2 Kg the night before and left the rods out and had the take in bright sunshine the next morning.
“We’re not commercially selling the bait yet or mail order but anglers do come and buy it fresh from us at the tackle shop.
“We sell it for £10 a kilo but the quality of the ingredients would mean if it was sold to other shops they’d have to charge at least £15 a kilo. We can keep overheads down here and make a slight margin on it at £10.
“But it is popular for local anglers and they come and buy it to take to other waters and France as it is such a good quality bait,” concluded the 53-year-old, from Shifnal.
Britain’s biggest carp
71 lb 4 oz (Big Rig) October 2016 Robby Harrison
68 lb 5 oz (Captain Jack) September 2017 ‘Bill’
* 68 lb 1 oz (The Parrot) January 2016 Dean Fletcher
67 lb 8 oz (Two Tone) August 2008 Oz Holness
65 lb 2 oz (Tarka) September 2018 Rob Hales
* Official British record
Note: a much heavier carp of 83 lb was landed in Kent. It was massively bloated and probably too unhealthy to have been considered for any record claim. The full story on that freak catch is here.
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