Northfield Nights
A 48 hour session on Northfield Main Lake produced a superb 36.8lb mirror carp and a smaller mirror carp of 12lb for Andy from Hampshire. Fishing late October with the carp being caught on the 2nd night of his session during torrential rain.
The Main Lake at Northfield is controlled by Ringwood & District Anglers Association who also control many other lakes and stretches of The Hampshire Avon & The Dorset Stour. For details of membership & fishing permits please see the RDAA contact details on our UK Carp Lakes section or you can log onto their website. www.ringwoodfishing.co.uk
Andy's 36.8lb mirror carp fell to a tight, but lightly spodded area at 70yards with the spod mix being made up of sweetcorn, hemp, and his own equivalent of parti-blend. Andy put in a light sprinkling of boilies, which proved to be a frustrating exercise, as the lakes resident seagulls can spot a throwing stick at 1000 yards!! A 9 inch braid hook-length to a size 8 Nash Fang on a semi-fixed lead completed the set up.
At midnight, his bite alarm indicated a drop back and the carp swam straight towards the bank for twenty yards, the fish put up a determined fight, especially when close to the net, it seemed to have saved some of its awesome power for a last ditch attempt at the margin snags.
Andy said "To catch a mirror carp of this size on my first visit to Northfield Main Lake left me stunned, as i was told that the lake only holds a possible 12 fish over 30lb. Seeing that Northfield Main Lake is 25 acres i think i was extremely fortunate to tempt this fish on my first trip. Carp fishing at Northfield for the first time was a real pleasure even though it rained for the best part of my trip. I will be back at Northfield soon for some more carp fishing and next time hopefully the weather will be a little kinder to me".
This carp is Andy's PB for the UK, beating his previous personal best of 29.14llb which came from Oxfordshire's Linear Fisheries 2 years ago. His biggest carp fishing capture came from a small French lake and weighed in at a fraction under the magical 40lb.
Carp Fishing Thoughts
"The landing of any carp should be seen as an achievement, and to capture a particularly wary fish is a truly remarkable event" - John Bailey - an excerpt from his book "Carp Challenge".