UK Session Blog

BIG FISH THURSDAY

7/3/2026

The capture of a very old common.

It's Thursday 2nd July 2026 and I arrived around 9.30am at my Hartlebury syndicate for a midweek short session. Weather wise on arrival it was cloudy and muggy, the forecast said it was going to get warmer as the day goes on with teatime being the warmest part of the day?.

As is normally the way during the week I was the only angler present, so I took good advantage of this and had a good look around before finally deciding on a swim to fish. I opted for a swim called the Bunker which is situated towards the central area of the lake.

The first two hours of this short session was a none event courtesy of the resident female Mallards, no matter where I spotted a rod they were on me like a flash. Finally around midday I managed to keep two rods in the water and started to fish.

One rod was spotted directly in front of me just off some pads, which were situated on the main patrol route of the carp in this venue. My second rod was spotted on the corner of a small island. Both were good areas and ones I was very happy with. My usual presentation The Twisted Multi Rig was deployed presenting a 12mm yellow CC Moore Northern Special pop up, which was fished over a good helping of CC Moore Pro Stim Liver, Pacific Tuna and some oily pellets.

Around 1.00pm I could clearly see some activity on the spot directly in front of me, the pads started knocking and some fizzing appeared, the activity began to increase and went on for a good two hours I kid you not.

I really thought that I should of had a pickup, doubts began to go through my mind, was their a problem with my presentation? have I been done? saying that I never experienced a single bleep from the R4, have they cleaned me out bait wise?. By 2.30pm the activity had stopped and it was obvious to see that the carp had moved out.

The forecasters had got today's weather spot on, and by 3.00pm the sun was out in force and it became very warm. Being honest I thought my chance had come and gone, by 4.00pm my confidence was getting low and I even started to get one or two items of tackle together in readiness for my 6.00pm departure.

It's never over until the fat lady sings, and on the dot at 5.00pm the rod spotted just off the small island pulled up tight before the tip cranked over and I was in. As soon as I picked up the rod I could tell it was a good fish, a slow ploddy fight are classic signs that I was attached to a decent carp. For most of the battle the only way I can describe it is like holding a dog on a lead, it did make an effort to get me into some marginal lilly pads to my left which I easily stopped it from doing, and at the first attempt it was in the net.

My prize one of the old girls and carp named Annie, It's not the first time that I have had the privilege to catch her it's now the third, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest she normally tips the scales around to 32/33lb, but due to it being so warm I thought a quick picture was enough and didn't weigh her on this occasion and returned her to her watery home ASAP.

A session that started off with frustration but ended happily.