Your catches
47lb 1oz Bella is out for the first time and a lake best
Top carp revealed
“It took off like a steam train, ripping line off the clutch. I knew it was special”
ANEW venue record has been set at Rob Hales’ Monument lakes in Shropshire.
This 47lb 1oz mirror, known as Bella, fell to Craig England on Monument Two.
Describing it as ‘a fish of a lifetime’, Craig told Carpfeed: “It wasn’t until fishery manager Tom Forrester walked round to do the photographs and to witness the weighing that he said: ‘You’ve got the big girl, Bella, it’ll be mid to late-forties’. I nearly fainted!”
This is the first time the fish has been caught from the day-ticket venue.
Craig was fishing on peg 10b, with his brother in 10a.
He added: “I found a bar at 18 wraps, just off to the left of the swim, and put out 15 Spombs of the fishery’s own 10mm B Caramel boilies and 2kg of corn.
“At about 4pm my right-hand rod melted off. The moment I picked the rod up and bent into the fish I knew I had hooked something special. “It took off like a steam train, ripping line off the clutch. After about five minutes of trying not to let the carp tow me around the lake it showed itself, causing a massive bow wave on the surface.
“I knew I had a new pb, and around 20 minutes later it was ready for the net.
“As soon as I looked in the net I knew I was looking at a monster of a carp – a fish of a lifetime.”
Craig used 12mm DNA PB wafters on blowback rigs made with 20lb King of the Pond hooklinks and hand-sharpened size 4 Deception Angling SWG hooks.