A record Crucian Carp...

On just my second visit to a very special venue today, an unforgettable angling experience. I arrived late afternoon and carefully fed my chosen swim with a handful of 8mm halibut pellets and some sweetcorn before setting up slowly over 45 minutes well back from the bank. I chose to fish with 2 Korum 1.25lb test curve Avon rods, at the business end were a couple of 35g Drennan method feeders. On one was a hair rigged piece of buoyant ESP fake corn, with a real grain of sweetcorn also on the hair, three inch braid hook link and size 14 Kamasan wide gape hook. On the other was a pared down Swedish Bait Mechanics boilie, Shitty Lobster flavour.

  The method feeders were lowered in at 16.45, the method mix was homemade, some ground bread crumb, cornflakes, halibut pellet and salted peanuts, with sweetcorn and hemp added on the bank. I sat back to wait, both baits close in the margins under a willow bush. Nothing happened at all for a couple of hours. Then a fish broke the surface under the willow and I thought I saw a dark back and dorsal. Ten minutes later there was a sudden steady pull on my left rod, just before 7pm. It was a good bite and I cursed my luck, the fished had not hooked itself. I waited another hour with no activity, except for a large swirl out in the lake, a large Carp? Then, five minutes later some bubbling in the swim beside my left rod again saw me hovering over the rods. First came a soft tap on the rod tip, then another. I figured these to be line bites and the excitement was palpable as I waited for a proper bite, but would it come? I waited, three or four minutes later came a slow nod of the rod tip, then, as the rod straightened came a second, slow, steady pull. I knew this was a bite and the fish had taken the bait and decided to strike. I was met by a good weight before a heavy thump told me the fish was on. It stayed down at first and I didn't put to much pressure on at first, until it bored for the willow bush and I applied side strain and turned it away. After that it plodded about slowly and then came to the top and I saw a broad dark back and long dorsal. The water here is murky and dark and the fish allowed itself to be drawn to the bank and it was only when I lifted it from the water I realized it was a Crucian Carp, a huge, deep fish. On the unhooking mat it went and I was gob smacked. I quickly got my scales out, placed the fish in a plastic bag and weighed it careful. It read 2.95 kilo! I reset the scales twice and weighed it twice more, still 2.95 kilo. I then took out a second set of scales and they told me I was looking at a Swedish National Record fish! I then set the timer on my iPhone camera and took a few shots of myself holding the fish, before placing it on a mat with my rapala scales beside it for size comparison. The dimensions were staggering, the fish wis 44cm long from nos the the central tip of the tail, it was deep, an amazing 25cm deep! The fish was incredibly broad. I then realized my predicament, I had a record claim on my hands and no witness. I had no keep net and was loathe to hurt the fish in anyway. I decided there and then it should go back unharmed. It went back easily and swam away strongly almost immediately. I sat down and grabbed my smokes as it began to dawn on me what had just occurred. I was elated and couldn't really concentrate on fishing for some time. Eventually a local angler turned up and I shared my news and showed him the photos. Although he hadn't seen the fish the photo of the fish on the mat made it plainly obvious to him how big the fish had been, as the mat was on the ground in front of us. He told me there were only six known Crucians in the lake and they were all now huge fish, though they had been stocked as small fish many years previously. The fish had thrived in the lake, as had some regular Carp, with no other fish present in the lake apart from a tiny handful of Rudd. They have being growing constantly, the lake is teeming with tadpoles and other life and it seems the abundance of food and lack of competition has meant these fish have grown to record proportions.
 As regards a record claim, it seems the fact I was alone will mean that a claim is unlikely to be ratified. A witness to the weighing is generally required, as is a tissue sample for DNA analysis for this species. As I had no way of safely retaining the fish at the lake my hands were tied and the welfare of a superb fish was put first, rightly so in my opinion. I addition the publication of such a claim would mean the lake would be desended upon by anglers from all over. The lake is small, remote and surrounded by a delicate sphagnum moss ecosystem with some rare insect eating plants in the margins, a lot of traffic would be undesirable. Sometimes its fine just to enjoy a magnificent fish and there is little one can do with the circumstances of such a capture after the event. I do enjoy fishing alone and will continue to do so in the future, though I think a good fish sack may become part of my kit in the near future, especially when I return to this wonderful venue... 

 A huge, huge Crucian which didn't fight terribly well. I didn't realize just how big it was until I had it on the bank...

 A stunning creature, the head was massive!

 At this point it hadn't really sunk in what was occuring, it was only after I slipped the fish back that the weight of events hit me. The fish went back easily and swam away stongly. On the bank it was a dream to handle and didn't flap around at all...

The fish here on the mat, alongside my rapala digital scales. The fish was 44cm long and 25cm deep, quite incredible proportions. It was very broad and the belly fat and probably full of spawn..


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