can you remember your first carp

i can`t remember my first carp but i remember my first double it was at cuttle mill on peg 11 (pontoon) it weighed 15lb 4oz and that was in 1986 and i still remember it as though it was only yesterday ,it was just after a heavy downpour and i was looking at my rods and watched as the monkey climber hit the rod and line poured off the open bail arm ( you new comers to carp fishing will probably think what a pratt fishing an open bail arm but thats how we fished back then no baitrunners )and i just stared at it and couldn`t quite figure out what was happening as my heron bite alarm wasn`t making a sound after what seemed an eternity but was only probably about 5 seconds i picked the rod up wound down about 5 turns of the handle and struck and from that point onwards i was a jibbering wreck my legs were shaking ,my hands were sweating and when i finally got it in and saw the size of it i went totally to pieces and many thanks to my mate ian for his calmness and the superb photo`s i still have of that fish ,the memory of that fish will go to the grave with me things haven`t changed much because when that buzzer sounds i still become a jibbering wreck

Sion farm 92' and yes even now I still feel my knees giving way when im into a fish!

What a great subject and a great tale also, nice words Dean. I personally can't remember my very 1st carp (crap memory), but I do recall chasing a big orange koi round a small pool as a 12 year old lad, never did catch it! Think I lost it tho, some things never change!!!!

At my age, you must be joking. However I do have a memory that I will never forget. I was lucky enough to get the final place on a syndicate at Chad lakes on the Easter Saturday of 1999. I returned on the following Friday to fish the weekend. There were two other people fishing, a chap called Neil ho was later christened Neil the brickie and a lad from Redditch who was fishing his last session as he could not afford to renew his ticket. I chose to fish what I called the islands swim, which was later to become my favourite swim. I was familiar with small waters and managed to catch four fish on the Saturday which included three personal bests, the final fish being a 30lb 0oz mirror. Neil packed up after I landed my third fish, I later found out he was a little pissed off as he struggled to catch carp from this water. Dave Wren, the owner paid me an honour after my third fish by checking my rigs to make sure I was using barbless hooks, I later became to know he was actually curious as to what rig I was using as I never saw him check anyone elses rigs in the following four years. On the Sunday morning the lad from Redditch had a run, I went to assist as you do and after a memorable scrap I managed to slip the net under the fish for the lad. The fish was an unusal sandy colour and about three foot long, weighing 31lb 12oz, but what struck me was that it had a black eye. Now what do you call a fish with a black eye?. Over the following weeks as I met the other members I told them of this fish black eye and its incredible strength ( I later found out this fish was originally called Terrys fish, as it was normally caught when it was a double/ low twenty by one of the original members called yes youve guessed it, Terry).

I was on my way to the lake on the 16th June, in those days I always made a point of fishing the 16th. I smiled to myself as I knew a fellow member named Darryl Wilkinson was already fishing and on arrival I had guessed correctly, Darryl had not caught and had decided to move from the bay into my favourite islands swim. I decided to fish the bay where Darryl had been fishing. One bait was cast to the far margin and one to the side margin after about three attempts. About 20 minutes later while I was putting up the bivvy, the side margin rod rattled off. I struck into the fish, which tore off across the bay, I thought to myself Ive only ever seen one fish fight this hard in this lake I said to myself keep calm Dave and dont panic. I managed to turn the fish before it reached the island, followed by a battle royal in open water/weed. Darryl came to assist me and about 10 to 15 minutes later the fish was guided into the net and I roared its Black Eye. So I guess the fish was officially rechristened on June 16th 1999. The fish weighed 32lb 6oz a PB at that time, I managed to catch the fish half a dozen times in the four years that followed to 41lb 2oz.

Sorry to waffle on chaps but I thought a memory worth sharing.

to right Dave your story is wicked mate...... well worth the share thanks mate...
Simon

And well done on his hit in France recently!

My first ever carp was many moons ago, at the ripe old age of six, it was a holiday destination called bream sands, I was fishing a tiny little pool in the middle of the complex with me dad, as I was eating the remainder of me bait, good old lunchen meat, big square cubes of it, I remember me dad useing a piece of grass as a hair stop to trap the hook in the lunchen meat, with me little White 6 foot telescopic rod lieing on the floor, the inevitable happened the rod took of, shot across the bank and strait into the drink, I could nor belive it, I looked up at me dad, and all I could say was, sorry dad, with a swift clip round the back of me head, and some very load expletives said, he set about getting it back for me, he spent the rest of the day, with the other four blokes on there chasing me rod about, he eventually got it back for me, and me first little mirror carp was mine, all 8 pound of it, it was one of the happyiest days fishing I ever Had.
Take care lads.
Lee.

1978 7lb mirror Brown Moss nr Whitchurch in Sunny Shropshire

Mine was a 1lb monster common from Upton Warren about 20 years ago! It was the only fish we had because my mate got a hook stuck in his finger and had to get his dad to pick us up and take him to hospital to get it removed