COULD THIS CARP BREAK THE BRITISH RECORD?
LEE ‘MOZZA’ Morris couldn’t have asked for a better gift, banking the UK’s biggest fully-scaled mirror at 60lb 5oz just two days after his birthday.
The new personal best came on the first night of his first ever session on Hampshire’s three-acre Manor Carp Fishery, currently operating as a syndicate but this year moving over to the exclusive ‘lake booking’ model.
“The new owner invited me down for a guest session to help promote the venue’s shift to a booking system, which is being done to help fund an otter fence,” Lee said.
Once at the venue, Lee spent time looking for a spot amid thick weed, before deploying three rigs to the area with a crafty bait mix.
“All winter I’ve been doing well on solid bags filled with DNA Crayfish Mix pellet, Insect Mix powders, squatts and casters, with a DNA Bug hookbait over the top,” he said.
“With all three rods just a rodlength or so apart, I baited the spot with 20 Spombs of chopped worms and casters.”
Lee’s first bite came just before dark, from a 32lb carp.
“I managed to keep it away from the other rods, so I didn’t recast as I didn’t want to spook the area,” he said.
Then, at 1am, his middle rod was away, with the fish of his dreams on the other end.
“I was frantically trying to get my waders on in the shallow margins - it was carnage,” he said.
“I was just reeling, reeling and reeling, when this leviathan appeared on the surface. I knew it could only be the sixty, so got out towards it as fast as I could.
“The fish is simply unbelievable. It has everything going for it – an amazing freak of nature that I’m sure will do 70lb one day. I’m on cloud nine – you just never think you’ll catch a British sixty!”
Mark Simmonds, the fish farmer who stocked it, believes it could one day beat the British record. “It’s one of those complete freaks,” he said.
“As is often the case, it’s a male fish, and at only 13 years old, the sky’s the limit.
“We’ve had a number of fish over the years top 60lb, but never at this age. The largest of its siblings in the same lake is just a mid-thirty.
“The owner, Justin, certainly knows what he is doing and the water is mega-rich in natural life, being right next to the River Test. We have several 40lb fullys around the country these days, but this fish has just blown the rest away with its growth - amazing to think it was stocked at just 1lb.”