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Captor deciding whether to make a record claim
YOU might just be looking at the next official British carp record.
This monster mirror weighed in at 69lb 10oz and was caught by Vinny Parker from Meadows Lake on the Holme Fen complex in Cambridgeshire.
The 54-year-old painter and decorator from nearby Chatteris has told Carpfeed he is mulling over whether or not to submit an official record claim.
The fish, which is known as Captain Jack, is bigger than the current official record of 68lb 1oz, set by Dean Fletcher’s capture of the now-deceased Parrot from Wasing in Berkshire in 2016.
Later that year, Tom Doherty caught a 69lb 3oz mirror called Big Rig from the Avenue in Shropshire but his record claim was denied because the fish was stocked at a high weight and fed by the fishery.
A clearly bloated 83lb 4oz carp was caught from Wingham in Kent last year, but no record was claimed and the fish, like Big Rig, is now dead.
AN open-access venue has produced a fish bigger than the official British record.
Holme Fen’s Meadows Lake – which can be fished by anyone on a pre-booking system – gave up this 69lb 10oz mirror known as Captain Jack to Vinny Parker.
He told Carpfeed: “I’m considering claiming it.
“Obviously we are just going to be plagued by haters, but I would like to claim it for the simple reason that I’ve been fishing since 1982 for carp and I’m no spring chicken – this is my five minutes of fame I’ve been dreaming of for 36 years.”
It was Vinny’s fifth session at Holme Fen, but his first fish landed. Incredibly, he had lost a fish to a cut-off just five minutes before he hooked Captain Jack.
Later that day, Vinny’s friend Jess Lamont landed a 55lb 5oz fish over the other side of the lake that was trailing his rig.
Vinny, who baited a ‘centrecircle-sized area’ 50 to 65 yards out from the Reeds swim with 10kg of Mainline Cell, said: “At 8.15am on Friday I had a take. As soon as I lifted into it I knew it was a good fish.
“It wallowed off and I couldn’t do anything with it. It weeded me and cut me off on the mussels.
“I sat there on my bedchair nearly in tears, thinking ‘this lake just conspires against me.’
“I was just considering tying another rig when I had two bleeps on my middle rod.
“I dived out of my bivvy and my rod-tip was just knocking very slightly. It hadn’t even pulled out of the clip but I thought it must be a fish just shaking its head trying to get rid of the rig.
“As I picked it up, the rod bent double and I initially thought I was snagged.” The 54-year-old painter and decorator said the fish did most of its fighting close in, powering around for at least 10 minutes at close quarters, before friend Robert ‘Nobby’ Allsop netted it.
Vinny said: “Nobby shouted ‘Captain Jack!’ so everyone knew. I just couldn’t believe it, I was shaking like a jelly. Everything was just a blur after that.”
The Cambridgeshire angler admitted Captain Jack was only lightly hooked and must have been on the spot at the same time as the 55-pounder he lost.
“I’ve been reflecting on that and thinking that if I hadn’t had the take from Captain Jack all I would have known is that I lost a 55-pounder. I was actually happy that I lost a 55lb carp. How does that sound?!”
Vinny fished Ronnie rigs made with Korda IQ2 and Gardner Mugga hooks tipped with Proper Job Condensed Milk pop-ups. The capture came during a social