They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore - Split Tail
Long, scaly, rare and enigmatic—let’s kick off this new series with a real gem that, despite being so desirable, was held by precious few anglers...
Sheepwalk Lake is flanked on its southern side by the M3 motorway and by the mighty Ellis Lake on the northern bank. Apart from a couple of appearances in print, the lake has been firmly in the shadow of its more illustrious neighbour for most of the last 30 years, thanks largely to the publicised exploits of Terry Hearn, Micky Gray and Jim Shelley to name just three. Despite that, this 35-acre pit was, for a long time, home to one of the finest big carp that we’ve seen: the magnificent Split Tail.
As with so many of our great history carp, quite how Split Tail and the other resident carp came to live in the pit isn’t easy to pin down. Its origins have, nonetheless, been the subject of speculation since the great fish emerged onto the scene, not long after the Millennium. Many anglers familiar with the area, including the likes of Terry Hearn and Micky Gray, feel that Split Tail probably found its way into Sheepwalk from the nearby River Thames sometime in the 1980s. It’s also possible that the fish was one of a number moved by anglers from the small pit next door, or even moved from Farlows (as one angler claimed!) but there’s no solid evidence to substantiate either claim and they are seen as the least likely of the routes that Split Tail might have taken.
What we do know is that the fish, and a few others, were certainly in the lake as the 1980s drew to a close. Terry Hearn remembers walking the pit with a friend, Simon West, only a few years after he’d left school (possibly 1989-90) and seeing what turned out to be the fish that he’d end up targeting over a decade later.
What gave Split Tail away were the distinctive white tips on its fins (although Terry only learned years later that the fish had those at the time!). Interestingly, the pigmentation in the fish’s fins changed at some stage because by the time Split Tail rose to prominence there was no white to be seen.
At one point Split Tail was spotted swimming about, completely covered in white fungus and was given a salt bath by local angler, Graham Stevens, after which it seemed to rally, then to flourish. Details of early captures are hard to substantiate, but there is evidence that it was caught at 17lb, before being banked at 23lb in the 1980s by the late Graham Hemming. By the time that Tel and Simon West had spotted the great fish, they estimated it to be in the region of 28lb, and long and dark.
The capture that really put Split Tail on the map came in 2001 when a young Ben Hamilton made the cover of Carp-Talk magazine, after he caught the fish at 36lb. Although not a fast grower (in the finest tradition of big, British mirrors) Split Tail was big enough already to grab Terry’s attention and he’d go on to kick off his campaign for the fish in 2003. Tel’s campaign for Split Tail, charted in his book, Still Searching, was certainly the most high-profile quest for this unique mirror, but by no means was Tel’s eventual capture the end of the story.
Local angler, Rick Hurley is notable for having caught the great fish twice, once at 39lb 9oz and later at 42lb 12oz and you only have to dig out your copy of the magnificent Forgotten Chapters and you’ll find an account of Eric Todd’s fishing on Sheepwalk, culminating in his capture of Split Tail at 43lb 9oz.
Now, Rick wasn’t the only angler to stick at Sheepwalk despite catching the big ‘un (one anecdote places a secretive local angler on the lake for 15 years after catching Split Tail). There’s a good reason for that too. You see, Sheepwalk had two big commons in it. At least, that’s what some pretty good anglers thought. The likes of Dave ‘Beadle’ Slowen even saw one of the enormous commons in question (in Beadle’s case, swimming right past him as he hung over the side of a boat complete with face mask). The lake has produced lovely, old commons of over 30lb, but this beast was reputedly in a different weight class entirely. Unfortunately, the fish was never banked and a glance at the fishery details on the Civil Service Angling Society website suggests that it might even still be around…
As for Split Tail, its legacy was cemented thanks in part to those two great book chapters and it went on to be caught four times at over 40lb, before it died on the 08/08/08. It remains a fish notable for lack of visits to the bank, despite being one of the most striking fish we’ve ever had on the scene. Looks and rarity alone make it a carp worthy of a place in our list of carp that make you say, “They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!”
So what of Sheepwalk now? Well, it still holds those lovely old commons, four of which reach over 30lb, and we’re informed that the lake (and adjacent Little Sheepwalk) has received an injection of new blood in the shape of some of Simon Bartlam’s Dinton fish.
