Gareth Evans lands a 33lb carp on barbel gear!
After a desperate spell on the river, Gareth Evans was beginning to think that his newly bought barbel rods were never going to get a workout- so he decided to take them to his local carp water instead! The 33 year old construction advisor hoped for a double figure fish to give them a workout, but was delighted when something much bigger found its way to his net!  

He explained: “ My session didn’t get off to the best of starts- I'd forgotten to bring my food bag so got set up and headed to the Chinese for a bit of grub. To make matters worse, I suffered a flat tyre on the way there, which meant I didn't get back to the lake until well after dark. I was in a right mood, and sat chomping on my No66 with the cob on!

Having let off some steam, I managed to get the rods out, which were thankfully already clipped up to a silty area on the side of a weedbed at approx 70 yards range. Two rods out, and a dozen or so spods of feed later, I was fishing! Between 2.30am and midday, I amassed a six fish catch of a bream, two mid double stockies, a 23lb common, a 29lb 12oz mirror and the big girl at 32lb 6oz. Compared to what I was used to on the river, it was hectic action!  

Apparently it's been fishing hard this year with just the odd fish out here and there so it looks like we'd caught them with their pants down! it was a very enjoyable trip and really opened my eyes to the enjoyment of playing big carp on well balanced, light tackle – I think my 3.5lb carp rods are going to be consigned to the cupboard for quite sometime!”