Britain’s biggest homegrown carp banked twice in three weeks.
Chelthenham rod Brian Humphries has made carp fishing history- by banking the biggest homegrown carp in the country twice in a three week spell. He first caught the 59-14-0 beast –nicknamed The Parrot because of an unusual beaked nose-  from a private Berkshire syndicate water three weeks ago, but then landed it again from an adjacent peg last week.

He told us: “I am obviously overjoyed to have banked what is a very special fish- and I was as shocked as everybody else when I landed it for a second time! Nobody expects that.

I have been fishing this lake for the last four years, and have witnessed The Parrot on the bank before, as my travelling partner caught it when we first joined this lake- though it was only 51lb at that point –which proves that the fish is still growing.

I found a clear patch in the weed around 60 yards from the bank, and presented a Hinders boilie in conjunction with an inline feeder loaded with groundbait. As you might expect from a fish of this size, it was quite a dramatic take, and I was physically exhausted when we finally slipped the net under it. I felt like I had done a round with Mike Tyson!

What is so special about the parrot is that he has grown up here in the UK, there are bigger carp in the country- but they are imported from other nations.”

Despite having achieved more in the last three weeks than many anglers can hope to achieve in their lifetime, the 48 year old rod still has plenty more items on his to-do list. “I have managed to bank most of the big carp from the syndicate where The Parrot resides, but there is still one called Simmo that I would love to catch. It would also be great to bank a double figure barbel, so I hope to do more river fishing over the next few months. Since setting up my own business last year, I suddenly have a lot more time to go fishing- it has opened up an exciting new chapter in my angling career” he added.