DES SHIPP OWNS THE MANOR WITH A DOUBLE TON OF CARP
England ace makes the most of a hot peg down in Dorset
THERE was a time when catching 200lb of carp in a match was reserved for the heady days of summer. Not any more!
Such a bumper weight is now achievable in the depths of winter too, as England star Des Shipp proved during a session at Todber Manor Fishery he’ll not forget in a hurry.
Taking part in the new teams of four winter league at the Dorset water, Preston Innovations man Des crashed out 232-10-0 of carp from the Bottom Lake on the Whitepost complex of Todber to win with ease. This was the sort of sport you’d normally expect to have in four or five months’ time.
Dobbing was the key, but not into open water or across to a far bank. Instead, Des used bread down his margins to some dead lily pads before rounding the day off with a fast and furious last hour using maggots on the long pole line.
“The peg I drew was one I’ve always wanted to have, an end peg that also has a great margin to fish,” Des explained.
“When I got there I could see carp colouring up the water further out and I did think that I might be on for a proper day’s fishing. However, Gary O’Shea had that peg a few weeks ago and only caught one fish in the edge, so it wasn’t a done deal.
“I kicked off using an 8mm piece of punch 6ins off bottom at 13m down the side but caught very little. So I went another 6ins shallower and found the carp.
“They were only small fish, averaging 2lb apiece, so my next step was to feed some bait,” he continued. “I tapped in some micros but still fished off bottom.
“This worked a treat and the fish were bigger, too, especially when I moved to 16m down the side.
“As expected, though, the edge eventually died – but I’d been priming two lines at 14.5m into open water with maggot. In the last hour this was brilliant.
“Initially I fed with a catapult, but finishing by tapping in bait with a pot,” Des said. “It was a brilliant day’s fishing, much better than I was expecting.
“I had more than I thought because I was reckoning on 180lb, so I was only 50lb out! It’s easy to think that when you draw on a pile of fish it’ll be easy, but that’s almost never the case.”