Clarissa the Carp

[Greyman 28,651]

23 hours ago, Blackmag said:

I know what your saying waz but I fish on my own so if by some luck I found one of theses gems only I would know but like you say it's when word gets out same as anything things get spoilt 

Google earth is your friend when looking for these gems, I use it all the time to look over land before I go mooching, find isolated parking spots and ways in and out of places

[comanche 3,038]

Trust me to come to the party late but l knew l had a picture of Ravioli/ Clarissa somewhere but have only just found it.

        She looks pretty healthy in the Zoo 

l recall from reading other articles her weight settled at 8-10lb under the record.

         Probably nothing to do with stress more likely she and the other fish on the tank were on a controlled diet balenced between keeping them healthy and not fouling the water to keep it clear.  Also l expect the water in the tank was aerated and therefore moving  so she would have been more active and used more energy than in the  still water of a pond. Another consideration is that in a pond she might have had periods of seasonal inactivity whereas in a controlled environment she would have been on the go all year round.

Towards the end she would have lost condition due to old age .

So between them Walker and Leney  started the  business of giving fish names and  the craze for stocking  fast growing pet carp.....

Edited April 10, 2020 by comanche

[Greyman 28,651]

1 hour ago, comanche said:

Trust me to come to the party late but l knew l had a picture of Ravioli/ Clarissa somewhere but have only just found it.

        She looks pretty healthy in the Zoo 

l recall from reading other articles her weight settled at 8-10lb under the record.

         Probably nothing to do with stress more likely she and the other fish on the tank were on a controlled diet balenced between keeping them healthy and not fouling the water to keep it clear.  Also l expect the water in the tank was aerated and therefore moving  so she would have been more active and used more energy than in the  still water of a pond. Another consideration is that in a pond she might have had periods of seasonal inactivity whereas in a controlled environment she would have been on the go all year round.

Towards the end she would have lost condition due to old age .

So between them Walker and Leney  started the  business of giving fish names and  the craze for stocking  fast growing pet carp.....

Donald Leney was a trout farmer with an interest in carp, I think he used to travel to Belgium for his stock and started bringing back small numbers of carp  that started getting put in places like redmire and  Frensham amongst others, the redmire fish were originally stocked to stop the weed blocking the water pipes as it was were the house took its water from as did many stately homes of the time, redmire is a name given to hide the location and comes from the fact the water turns red when it rains because of the soil there, Eddie price was a local man that was on the original redmire syndicate and he started taking fry and rearing them at home before stocking them in lakes around Gloucestershire,

[Chaff 3,622]

Original leney stocking from 1957 just over 30lbs in weight, took 2 years before I got the bite from this one.

Over 60 years old at time of capture

Proper carp and remains my best fish to date.

[Greyman 28,651]

8 minutes ago, Chaff said:

Original leney stocking from 1957 just over 30lbs in weight, took 2 years before I got the bite from this one.

Over 60 years old at time of capture

Proper carp and remains my best fish to date.

Look at the fish my lad is holding on page 2 mate same mould, it means nothing to the pounds and ounces chasers but some of those history fish are worth a dozen modern 40s in my book, I see in your location your a Surrey lad, is the fish your holding From frensham ?? 

[Chaff 3,622]

8 minutes ago, Greyman said:

Look at the fish my lad is holding on page 2 mate same mould, it means nothing to the pounds and ounces chasers but some of those history fish are worth a dozen modern 40s in my book, I see in your location your a Surrey lad, is the fish your holding From frensham ?? 

Not that one mate, it came from "the army lake" as Chris Ball called it in his book king carp waters, where that exact fish is pictured caught in the 70s.

I'm starring into a box here that is full carp pictures going back some 30+ years.

Dead right though quality before quantity

[Daniel cain 45,688]

1 hour ago, Chaff said:

Not that one mate, it came from "the army lake" as Chris Ball called it in his book king carp waters, where that exact fish is pictured caught in the 70s.

I'm starring into a box here that is full carp pictures going back some 30+ years.

Dead right though quality before quantity

Put them up mate... Would love to see them

[Chaff 3,622]

This one came from a lake/ reservoir called squabmore down near buddleih salterton, was great place not big fish but real beautys we got some strange looks from people explaining that all the trout had been lost and we were wasting our time

[Nicepix 5,650]

There are some rivers and lakes that seem to have different strains to others, even with barbel and other species. There is a river that I used to fish that is tiny compared to the Trent, Severn and Ouse. Even the classic Yorkshire rivers dwarf this one yet there are barbel in the river well over 16lb and there are quite a few different specimens over 14lb and they are all caught within a 3 mile stretch of the river. That stretch used to be controlled by a WMC angling section and back in the 1970's they stocked it with barbel. Only from there for a few mile downstream are the big ones found and it is rare to catch a barbel smaller than 6lb in that length. Upstream and downstream you can catch smaller barbel, but the big ones are only found from the old WMC stretch and for a couple of miles downstream. The river then runs into the Don which is a much bigger river but does not hold the same size specimens as its tributary.

There are one or two anglers who know where these big fish are and how to catch them. A friend of mine has had at least twenty different fish over 12lb. When it first got publicised we got loads of wannabe specimen hunters coming down to the small river to fill their boots with these monster barbel. They didn't come for long as the 'classic' barbel tactics don't work. You have to fish totally differently to get a sniff at one of the big ones and even then, in my experience and my friend's, you are looking at around five blanks per fish landed.

Now, where these monster barbel were bought from nobody really knows. The river authority have stocked barbel along its length and some believe the large barbel are part of their stocking. But that doesn't account for the distribution of the larger fish. Downstream a few miles where the river is bigger and there is a lot more angling activity they rarely catch doubles. Most are run of the mill 4b - 6lb fish. Upstream of the first weir above the old WMC length you'd be lucky to catch a 4lb barbel. And there is no magic source of food in the productive length that would account for the larger size of fish. Before the 1970's virtually the whole river was wiped out by industrial pollution. Only the upper reaches held fish. Mainly small trout with a few small barbel as well as minnows, perch, roach, dace and chub. But there it was a large stream not a river. So, in my opinion the WMC dropped on an unusual batch of barbel when they stocked their stretch of river. Hopefully their genes will be passed onto successive generations.

[Blackmag 6,102]

On 10/04/2020 at 10:26, Greyman said:

Donald Leney was a trout farmer with an interest in carp, I think he used to travel to Belgium for his stock and started bringing back small numbers of carp  that started getting put in places like redmire and  Frensham amongst others, the redmire fish were originally stocked to stop the weed blocking the water pipes as it was were the house took its water from as did many stately homes of the time, redmire is a name given to hide the location and comes from the fact the water turns red when it rains because of the soil there, Eddie price was a local man that was on the original redmire syndicate and he started taking fry and rearing them at home before stocking them in lakes around Gloucestershire,

Would some of them lakes have been wraysbury and conning brook because I see there name linked with faversham strain  in a article about big fish 

[Chaff 3,622]

On 05/04/2020 at 14:56, Blackmag said:

I know what your saying waz but I fish on my own so if by some luck I found one of theses gems only I would know but like you say it's when word gets out same as anything things get spoilt 

Some time last year the Thames record carp was caught not for the first time, except this time it was caught by a high profile sponsored angler and it was made public which turned the banks of that stretch into bivvy city.

Completely ruining it for all the locals that had been enjoying catching some cracking Thames carp and keeping quiet.

The result of this was a dead 50lb Thames record carp which was probably due to the amount peanuts that went in after being published.

So moral of the story .........

 

[Blackmag 6,102]

8 minutes ago, Chaff said:

Some time last year the Thames record carp was caught not for the first time, except this time it was caught by a high profile sponsored angler and it was made public which turned the banks of that stretch into bivvy city.

Completely ruining it for all the locals that had been enjoying catching some cracking Thames carp and keeping quiet.

The result of this was a dead 50lb Thames record carp which was probably due to the amount peanuts that went in after being published.

So moral of the story .........

 

My cousins husband knows the local river  like back of his hand he's a barbel  man he's told me a few spots but he did say it gets rammed at weekend so it might be early mornings mid week on that one I'm looking and a lot of stretches on club run with waiting lists so might be a canal or try and find a quiet lake 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Blackmag

[Chaff 3,622]

7 minutes ago, Blackmag said:

My cousins husband knows the local river  like back of his hand he's a barbel  man he's told me a few spots but he did say it gets rammed at weekend so it might be early mornings mid week on that one I'm looking and a lot of stretches on club run with waiting lists so might be a canal or try and find a quiet lake 

Canals can be good once located and if they don't get hammered they stay about, big barbel to 20lb along that stretch of the Thames so I'm told.

Lakes around here are so overfished it's really not an enjoyable place to be.

I'm waiting for my wey ticket

[Blackmag 6,102]

Alot of lakes here are the same so canal stretch might be a good shout I will have a nosey on Google shame when places start getting rammed it spoils it 

 

[Greyman 28,651]

Have been fishing canals for donkeys years, they all have carp in, it’s just up to you to find them, as we are a bit bored and stuck in here are a few from the last 20 odd years, the little girl in the photo when I had hair is my daughter she’s now over 30 with 2 kids, I,ve tried to include some with locks or boats in so you know I,m not fibbing