Nigel Sharp's top carp captures (ever!)

1 Walker's Record

Now what can be said about his capture of Clarissa that hasn’t been said time and time before? Having not been born at the time of that capture I don’t have a clue as to how much of an impact it had on the angling world but my old man did and I know it inspired him to become a keen carp angler. Strangely enough, although we lived in an area where Donald Leney had stocked most of the local waters with some of the finest looking mirror carp in the land, Walker’s record made my old man develop a serious liking for common carp. Being as my old man ran a local syndicate which held Leney mirrors back in the 70’s I can see how much of an effect Walker’s capture had on just one angler let alone a generation and others that have followed, so historically it’s definitely one of my top ten.

DATE OF CAPTURE September 1952
VENUE Redmire Pool, Ross-On-Wye, Wales

2 Yates's record

Strangely enough I was alive and fishing when Chris caught his record carp and I can remember clearly reading about it in the Angling Times. At the time I was just getting in to my fishing and classed a 3lb tench as a massive fish so seeing that picture of Chris kneeling down on the fresh damp grass with a carp of that size was totally mind-blowing. Being such a young lad at the time I can remember marvelling at that picture for hours, wondering what it would be like to catch such a huge fish. Not only was this our first British 50lb+, it was an extremely good looking fish and if it was around today I know for a fact I’d be wanting to fish for it. Again, at the time, an incredible capture and one that definitely inspired me.

DATE OF CAPTURE 16th June 1980
VENUE Redmire Pool, Ross-On-Wye, Wales

3 Ritchie MacDonald's capture of Bazil

Now this is one I’m sure a lot of my generation can relate to. At the time the great fish was known as The North Lake Mirror and the name Bazil followed during the later reign of the Yateley Yahoo Crew. That’s another completely different story but what I do know was in October 1984 when Richie caught The Great North Lake Mirror at 45lb 12oz it was the second biggest carp ever landed in this country. What made its capture even more mind-blowing to me was the fact that the angler, Richie, had set out his stall to catch that fish. This to me was awe-inspiring stuff and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d ever do such a thing let alone fish for that fish one day.

Like Walker’s record, Richie’s capture of The North Lake Mirror 40 inspired a new generation of carp anglers in the mid-eighties and I was just one of them. It wasn’t just the size of the fish, as it was a stunner, and to this day we still talk about what a cracking fish Bazil was and how lucky some of us were to catch it. Definitely a top ten for that one, Richie!

DATE OF CAPTURE October 1984
VENUE Yateley North Lake, Surrey

4 Robin Dix's capture of Heather

Again, back in the mid-eighties and not long after Richie’s shockwave capture of Bazil, a young local angler called Robin Dix landed a 41lb 12oz leather carp from the neighbouring Yateley Car Park Lake. At the time I didn’t know Robin but I knew someone who was there when he caught it and he came over to the Pike Pit at Frimley where I was fishing at the time to tell me about this great leather carp. Tony was the bloke’s name and he gave me such a buzzed up report about the capture and how the fish looked on the bank that I even felt like I was there when it happened.

Being as Robin had learned his trade from the likes of Springate and Hodder it was sometime before I actually got to see a picture of the fish that became known as Heather The Leather. Being as Robin was local to me and we had a few mutual friends it wasn’t long before we met and surprisingly enough, although he was a very secretive angler, we became friends and still are today.

Again, like Richie with Bazil, I was in awe of this capture and at the time I could only dream of catching such a magnificent carp.

DATE OF CAPTURE 18th June, 1986
VENUE Yateley Car Park Lake, Surrey

5 Damian Clarke's Snake Pit Common

I’m not too sure of the date of this capture but what I do remember was seeing a young bloke around about the same age as me called Damian Clarke holding what can only be described as an incredibly good looking and perfectly proportioned common carp. Although at over 45lb in weight it wasn’t just the fact that it was a big and very good looking common, it also proved to me that younger anglers like Robin of his time could indeed catch such head-turning fish.

Again, back in those days, large common carp were as rare as large leathers so what a mind-blowing capture and when I (at a later date) read Damo’s story of how he’d caught it I was so impressed and again inspired by his capture and could only dream of catching a common carp like his.

DATE OF CAPTURE 11pm, 16th June 1991
VENUE The Snake Pit, Essex

Terry Hearn's capture of Mary

After his days on Yateley, Terry, who needs no introduction, moved on to the massive windswept pits in the Wraysbury area and in the late autumn of 1996 he sent the angling media into overdrive with his capture of a new British record carp, Mary. Although this was a known fish I think the fact that a young man who was making a name for himself caught it in relatively little time compared to others that had fished for it, turned a lot of heads. Obviously with Terry being young and very marketable at the time of this capture, it changed carp fishing again and yet another new generation of carp anglers and carpy fashions was born.

Like I said, he needs no introduction and he’s still got that same determination to this day so naturally anglers will aspire to want to be like him. The reason why this capture is in my top ten is because back then, and to this day, Terry is one of my best mates and I know exactly what he put himself through to catch fish like Mary.

DATE OF CAPTURE 10th November 1996
VENUE Wraysbury, Stains

Gary Bayes, Two-Tone

Yes, again, another at-the-time-of-capture record fish in my top ten. The reason why this one is up there is because it was a 60lb carp caught in England. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think Gary was the first to break the 60lb barrier when he caught Two-Tone. I might well be wrong but aside from its weight, what makes this capture so special to me was the fact that when Gary caught it, a mutual friend, Jeff Pink, set up a conference call with Gary so literally minutes after he released the fish we were talking to him.

As always, Gary was his usual laid back self and wasn’t at all big-headed about what he’d just achieved. To me it just seemed incredible to be talking to someone on the phone just moments after they’d caught a British record. Obviously my connection with Nashbait had played a big part of being involved in that conversation but it’s something that has stuck with me since that evening so it too is in the ten, and besides, how many anglers will ever catch a genuine UK 60?

DATE OF CAPTURE 17th October 2001
VENUE Conningbrook, Kent

Danny Smith's adventure

I would like to name the fish in question but it hasn’t got a name so it’s called The **** Fish. The reason why this capture is so high in my list is because Danny had set out his stall to catch this particular fish. It was an unknown and it lives in a lake which isn’t for the faint-hearted.

I only met Danny on a couple of occasions when CARPology was in its earlier years. From what I learned about Danny during our brief conversations and his writings about his quest, he seemed like a seriously determined angler that wouldn’t let anything knock him back from getting that end result. From the pictures of that fish in his series of articles I can see why he didn’t let it beat him and what an incredible bit of angling on his part to achieve that final goal.

I remember talking to Danny not long after his capture of this stunning fish and he had nothing but enthusiasm for me to catch The Burghfield Common which I had been hunting for quite sometime. Strangely enough, those few words of encouragement from Danny went a long way and I caught that very common the following spring. A true angler and a proper fish so Danny’s capture is up there with the finest.

DATE OF CAPTURE June, 2004
VENUE Undisclosed

9 Iain Stevens, Frimley's first forty

Some of you might not think that this one compares with the rest but because it’s my top ten this is why I think it is worthy.
Having grown up around Frimley and fished both old and new venues for its carp, I’ve had the pleasure in seeing the older lakes mature then get razed to the ground to build the A331. In the same time I saw newer lakes that we now know today as Pit 3 and 4 being dug and also had a hand in relocating stock into both those waters. There are so many stories to tell and one day I’ll maybe write a book about those early days but being there to witness and weigh the venue’s first 40lb carp was a really special moment for me even though it wasn’t me that caught it.

I’ll take nothing away from my long-term friend Iain Stevens for catching that fish and I’m just so pleased it was one of the local lads that I went to school with that caught it. Iain is and has always been part of Frimley furniture so it’s good that his capture has become part of carp fishing history so just on a personal note it’s on my list – and besides, seeing her on the bank lit a fire within me.

DATE OF CAPTURE 16th June 1980
VENUE Frimley Pit 3, Surrey

Glynn Gommersall, Causeway Fish

Again, when my long-term friend Glynn caught The Causeway Fish there were some great times going on in British carp fishing. Roughly around the same time as this capture, Andy Dodd caught The Eye from Oxfordshire’s massive 360-acre Sonning Eye Pit and Jim Shelley also made headlines with a stunning linear from Fen Drayton. All of these fish were over 48lb which was so to speak a premier league sized carp for their day. But what really made them more special was the fact that they hadn’t been plastered all over the mags before.

Like I said, these were exciting times and for those of you that have read both mine and Terry’s latest books, Glynn’s capture of The Causeway Fish was another part of a jigsaw falling into place. We knew about this fish but finding its exact home was all part of the fun and both Terry and Glynn had looked long and hard for it until that day in May when Glynn stumbled across it in a small bay.

What went on from then is his story but what a capture and I just wish carp fishing today still had a few more of those kind of surprises. Anyway, for that very reason Glynn’s captures is in my top ten and it’s by no means last in the line up.

DATE OF CAPTURE 1st May, 2000
VENUE Causeway