Big Carp Magazine Big Carp 207 Vorige editie

The Mystery of The Unknown

Years ago when I started carp fishing, we took it for granted that every carp we caught was a surprise. We were all hoping to catch that elusive twenty or thirty pounder without really knowing if the lake we were fishing even held any. Each fish was new and unknown; every lake was shrouded in mystery… Today we know it all; we're on first name terms with most of the carp we catch, and the mystery of the unknown has been lost forever… or has it?

A telephone call some months ago got me very excited. A village pond with pea green soup for water; a pool that held some unknown monsters, veiled in secrecy, some uncaught jewels never before disclosed – a carp angler’s dream… or was it? As it was, it had its own set of problems, which ended up as a nightmare, but not before some of its secrets were uncovered. And my God, what incredible secrets they turned out to be – a string of big thirties, many fully scaled, and linears. Over 70 were landed, including six forties, most of these fully scaled. On his last day session he landed a 26 followed by a 32, then a 39 fully, finally getting a double take and having two in the net at once – a 42 fully and a 44!

The whole story, warts and all can be found in this special issue.

I decided to get on the grapevine and see what else I could dig up. Would people reveal their secrets for a very special one-off clandestine carping issue?