Out of respect for those currently fishing the venue, I’ll use a nickname for the lake that’s the subject of this article, one I’ve heard used before and which seems wholly appropriate: the ‘House of Commons’.

WORDS BY Aaron Copp

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The carp needed very little excuse to appear in the edge!

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Aaron Copp and friends

A gnarly old common… and there were plenty more like this too!

Aaron Copp recalls a teenage capture that led to his dedicated pursuit of big carp, and revisits the club venue where it all began…

Going back almost three decades, I remember it vividly the first time I fished the small, tree-lined gravel pit; it was where I caught my second-ever carp by design. Back then, I floatfished for anything that came along with one rod, whilst another was dedicated to carp. This second rod was usually fished with legered luncheon meat, a tactic that resulted in the capture of a 6lb common. That fish helped catapult me towards becoming a fully fledged carp angler, and would see me fish for big carp far and wide in the years to come.

A few years back, the angling club that controls the fishing on the venue had the foresight to greatly reduce the stock. They removed all the small commons, whilst any mirrors that were netted were returned. Some fish around the 20lb mark were also transferred to the lake from the club’s water next-door. Following the netting, a stock of around 60 or so carp remained, the vast majority of which were over 20lb. Despite the age of some of the remaining stock (a few were at least 40-years-old), in an environment with a reduced biomass, to say they thrived would be a massive understatement. One of the remaining original commons has since broken the fortypound barrier, a couple more aren’t far behind and there’s a scattering of lovely scaly mirrors present.

Back in January, I caught the fish I’d been after at a former sailing lake in Kent, and so fancied a change of scenery. I didn’t have a night ticket for the House of Commons, but my club ticket allowed me to fish days. I was fortunate enough to hit the ground running and each of my first two trips produced a pretty mirror. I had a couple of blanks after that, but two things struck me. Firstly, I needed a night ticket to make the most of the opportunity, and secondly, the margins absolutely screamed ‘carp’ - the banks are littered with overhanging trees, there’s a prominent island and a couple of carpy little bays. Whilst I love being out in the winter, I just knew this lake would be a lot of fun to fish through the summer months when the carp need very little excuse to appear in the edge.