While the southwest of the country is not particularly well known for huge carp, aside from a handful of bigger fish in Cornwall, the neighbouring county of Devon isn’t a place you would immediately associate with big fish. However, with the overhaul of their Nirvana syndicate, the incredibly popular Anglers Paradise now boasts a lake full of monster carp as Clint Miller has been discovering during his recent sessions.
Clint has hit a real purple patch in his carp fishing over the last month. Not only did he bank the lake record from the complex four weeks ago at a staggering 54lb 8oz, but on his latest trip, he also managed to break the Devon record with a fish known as The Silverback, weighing an incredible 59lb 2oz.
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"After a nightmare at work and being held up, I didn’t get to the lake until 6pm and upon walking down and seeing which swims were available, I only had the pick of three that were left," Clint told us.
"Despite standing and watching the water for a good 30 minutes, there was very little activity, so I decided to fish the same swim I had caught from before as that was all I had to go on," he added.
"It was only a couple of days after the full moon, so there was amazing light, with barely any need for a head torch. After getting the bivvy up, it started to rain lightly and as it was already dark, I was in no rush to get the rods out."
With some prior knowledge of the swim, Clint already had an idea of where he would position his rods, and with the rain due to pass, he decided to settle in and make some food after the rush getting to the lake. While eating, he heard a good fish roll just off the island in front of the swim increasing his confidence that a few fish were in the area.
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"Around 9pm I shipped the first rod out on my baiting pole, up to the island on my left where I had heard the fish. As I began seeing up the other two rods, the lake came to life, with three more shows to my right, and plenty out in open water," he recalled.
"With what I had seen, decided to put a 5ft zig off to my right to see if I could grab a quick bite. With the fish still showing long, I decided to put a kilo of Cell boilies out with a throwing stick over the course of an hour."
"There is a nice silt spot out near where the fish were showing, so I wrapped up the rod and got it positioned before putting three Spombs of 10mm Cell over the top before I hit the sleeping bag."
Despite the activity in the swim that night, Clint woke up to motionless rods. Rather than panic as some anglers can and reel in to refresh baits before casting back in, he was wary of spooking any fish that may be in the area and instead decided to leave his rigs in position, confident they were fishing well. His patience paid off, as at around noon, the rod fished on the longer spot pulled up tight and he was in.
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"I picked up the rod and immediately started walking backwards, keeping the fish on a tight line as it was down in the next swim, trying to make its way to the island to my right," he said.
"Rather than risk losing it, I grabbed my net and moved down to the next swim to get a better angle. After turning the fish a few times in the margin, it finally came up in the water and into the net first time."
"Having only had the lake record four weeks earlier at 54lb 8oz, I could clearly see this fish was much bigger meaning it had to be The Silverback, the biggest in the lake!"
"The scales confirmed it, as the needle swung round to 59lb 2oz. Everyone reeled in to come around and Joe from Anglers Paradise came down, to get some pictures and check on the fish.
"To catch two 50lb carp in a month from the same spot, in a county not usually associated with fish of this size, is incredible. As always, my approach of using Mainline Cell with Specialised Hookbaits over the top proved to be the winning combination."
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