Angler Name: Simon Wooldridge

Hometown: Newbury

Fish Weight: 14lbs

Bait: Ccmoore Carp Freaks White Popup

Venue: Lakeside

Rig: Ronnie

Tactics: Tight to the island with a mesh bag of pellet

Additional Info: I had an eventful one on a Wednesday evening. I went to my local lake for an after work session and after a couple hours I sure I was in for a blank. I was tight to an island where I knew the carp patrolled but I had no indications at all even though I could see them near to the surface going back and forth around the spot. In the last hour the bite alarm screamed off, I hit the rod straight away but it was solid. I could feel the fish putting up a strong fight, I knew there’s no natural snags underneath for it to get caught into as they were all cut back, so it had left me stood there feeling pretty confused. After a couple minutes I saw the fish come up to the surface in the exact spot I had casted to, I looked closely and saw another line that looked like it had wrapped around mine. The spot is quite a known favourite and with overhanging branches there is a lot of lines and leads hanging above, like a fisherman’s Christmas tree. In a fraction of a second I got my waders on so I could investigate and free the carp. My mate Jack took hold of the rod and I made my way to rescue the damsel in distress, luckily the lake was pretty shallow in places but I took my net pole with me to be sure and made my way slowly to the spot. I got to the carp, investigated and quickly came to the conclusion that once the carp took the bait it must’ve swam under and over a snagged line. I managed to free the carp which at this point was very calm so it made the rescue mission a lot quicker and easier than expected. Jack managed to get him safely in the net and I took my time to remove the multiple snagged lines and also bagging myself a load of leads and a marker float in the process. The carp had received a few cuts during his ordeal but we got them treated, took a couple photos and released him back so he could tell his mates about his traumatic experience.