Coventry’s legendary big fish angler Phil Smith caught this quite beautiful Common Carp from a midlands canal last week – in quite extraordinary circumstances! Phil had embarked on a trip to fish for Silver Bream – a quarry which demands quite some finesse, and so set up with a Drennan Ultralight Waggler 14ft rod & Series 7 Float reel, with a float rig and size 20 Super Spade to 1.5lb nylon baited with maggot.

After trickling maggots in over some leftover mixed pellet & hemp, a 2lb bronze bream soon came to the net. But the next time the float dipped, Phil struck into something much, much bigger! The fish charged up and down the canal, back and forward, with Phil hanging on with considerable skill – for over 30 minutes! Eventually the Carp began to tire and Phil saw his float, until finally the fish came into netting range….when disaster struck! With the rod right back past the vertical and the fish on the rim of the net, it lunged one last time, cracking the top section of Phil’s rod. Fortunately at this point it was all but beaten and Phil played it back into the net and had won! At around 10 years old, Phil’s trusty Mk1 Ultralight rod had finally met its match and is now due for a new Matchpro Ultralight replacement – but with a last victory like this 20lb 12oz Common Carp it almost seems a fitting way for a rod to go! Special mention for the great picture by Merv Wilkinson too, thanks chaps.

For full details on the Drennan Super Spades to Nylon (though we normally recommend stronger than 1.5lb for 20lb Carp!) click here:-

http://drennantackle.com/productDetail.php?category=81

Knot a Problem – some additional words by Peter Drennan

Specialist big fish anglers tend to prefer eyed hooks just for knot security, but if you tie up spade ends perfectly they can be just as strong. (See Gary Barclay’s excellent video on the Hook Tyer for an idea of how.)

This beautiful Common was not quite what Phil Smith expected but it does show just how strong Super Spades are even in the smallest size 20.