Darrell Peck starts December in style, with his first 50lb carp.
Korda’s hauling machine, Darrell Peck, has banked his 40th forty-plus carp, in the shape of a 50lb 8oz mirror from the southern syndicate that he’s targeting. Despite having caught Two Tone at 65lb, and 38 other fish over 40lb, Darrell was still looking for his first fifty. He’d been close before, landing the Fat Lady from St Ives Lagoon at over 49lb, as well as Babyface from Charity Lakes in Norfolk close to the magical mark too. Incredibly, the session also saw him bank a twenty, a thirty and a forty!

Things didn’t start too well for the Korda man, as he arrived at the lake to be told that the fish that is the lake’s second biggest resident had been caught at over 50lb. Disappointed, but undeterred, Darrell slotted into the swim that had given him a run of recent captures, including a number of 40lb plus fish. Having fished the swim intensively recently, Darrell knew the drill and set about casting his hinged stiff rigs to the 165 yard mark that had produced all the bites so far. He baited with Mainline’s new Hybrid bait, which is on test at the moment.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait too long for a bite, which came early on Monday morning. When Darrell bundled the fish into the net he was taken aback to see a huge, thickset mirror in the net. Hoisting the fish onto the scales, Darrell was shocked to see the needle settle on 50lb 8oz – his first fifty had succumbed! After all those forties, he’d finally broken the barrier, and with a fish that he didn’t even know was a fifty!

It turned out that the carp, a fish called Big Scale, was a new fifty for the lake, having been caught at a big summertime weight and avoided capture since then.

The action wasn’t to end there either, as Darrell’s home-made pop-ups accounted for a 26lb mirror the next morning, followed by a 42lb 8oz mirror and a 39lb 8oz common on the last morning (a new lake record).