In search of a monster common

I had spent two and half years seeking one of the most prestigious linears that I know, two to three nights a week, journeys to Cambridge to bait up and look, it was a slog. Nevertheless, the hard work, graft and sheer determination paid off handsomely, as I finally tempted my prize. I landed her at the end of October, a few years ago now and so I had all winter to plan my next exploits…

‘The Valley’: home of Tyson…

have always had a desire to catch gnarly mirrors, each have their own character and over the years had spent much of my time targeting such creatures. I still do to this day! However, after the linear adventure I fancied a change and so went in search of a monster common; there were a few out there that I admired: The Burghfield Common, The Wood Common, Kitch up at Northey… however, I needed to be realistic. At the time, I was working for Korda, so my job was busy. I would often find myself up and down the country shooting articles and films, so I had to pick a venue that gave me a good, sensible, chance of making my conquest happen. It needed to be within an hour of home, closer if possible, and of course I wanted something special… if I was to undertake the hunt of a big common, I wanted the silverware to be a fish that I would treasure forever. She had to appeal to me. I wanted a special carp to give me that addiction, that desire, that fire to put my heart and soul into catching it. That effort that would see me spending every spare minute at the lake; learning, walking, baiting, watching!

I had always heard rumours of a water in Northamptonshire containing a rather hefty common, but due to other adventures never did any research, that was until a chat with a friend of mine, Jason. He had just pulled off after a few successful years, but wasn’t lucky enough to latch into the big boy, known as Tyson. However, in typical Jason fashion, he painted this wonderful picture. I remember him describing Tyson as a long, muscle-packed common, built like a breezeblock, steeped in deep bronze scales, with fins the size of paddles. The bit that appealed most was the fact she had only been landed a handful of times and was in perfect condition. He had caught numbers of other fish, but Tyson seemed to elude him.

A proper old battleaxe

Immediately, I did some digging and secured a few photos. Wow. Jase wasn’t wrong! This fish oozed power and swagger, the tail was enormous, like a tennis racket, his fins were like paddles, and its huge, sloping head and beady eye gave off this wise look about him, I had feeling that this old fella was going to give me the runaround… I had to get a ticket.

At the time ‘The Valley’ as I will call it, due to respect for the members, was very early in the syndicate and a ticket was easy to secure. A quick phone call to Charlie, the guy who ran it back then, and I soon had two passport photos and cheque off in the post.

Dawn over ‘The Valley’

It was between 15- and 20-acres in size, at a guess, possibly slightly bigger. The gravel pit had a raw feel about it at times, the expanses of open water would get cut in half by the bitter valley winds that sliced through the lake and it was located in the middle of a campsite. Throughout the summertime, there would often be illegal raves behind the pit, keeping me up until early hours as the deafening beats of drum ‘n’ bass, interrupted the calm, valley atmosphere. It was a strange lake, yet addictive.

Sometimes I would hate it, yet other times it would be magical. You could tuck yourself away in quiet little finger bays, hiding between the dense foliage in anticipation of stalking them out the edge. On the contrary, you’d find them in numbers, heads shuffling out of the water on the end of a fresh, warm wind… it had everything really.

Tyson was what I’d joined for, any others along the way were of course welcome, as the others play part of piecing together the jigsaw, but I had to keep my focus if I was ever going to triumph in my quest for a big common.

Through hard work, and a whole lot of learning, I landed one of the most impressive, colossal commons in the UK at ounces under 48lb. I had never experienced a fight like it: flat rodding me at over 100yd, he made a mug of me at first, eventually though I got the upper hand and soon had one of the most treasured commons that swims, safely hammocked in my net. I peered into the folds and there he was: fins like shovels, an enormous paddle of a tail, and that beady eye looking defeatedly up at me as our respect for each other reached another level. It was a journey that ended too quickly, but I was seriously on my fishing that year and the culmination of a number of aspects helped me in my adventure… Here they are!

Case study 1: He was a loner!

Researching your quarry plays an important part in your journey. I always find out the times of year that my target frequents the bank. Was there anything specific? Tyson, although not a regular bankside visitor, and pretty unpredictable at the best of times, averaged either a late spring or early October capture each year. That was only based on three results but it gave me a starting point, there wasn’t a particular area that he came from but I did make one particular note that I feel helped eventually culminate into my capture.

There’s a reasonable stock of carp in ‘The Valley’, around 60 fish, so pinpointing Tyson wasn’t going to be easy. Multiple hits were regular, but on each Tyson capture, he came alone. Wise, old carp will often be found as loners and from what little information I had, he was the same.

I was always told that surface fishing didn’t work, the fish were spooky and weren’t ever really interested in a Mixer. Being the stubborn git that I am, and my passion for floater fishing, I wouldn’t have it, I was going to have a few on Mixers, isolating him this way would be a great achievement. Although this wasn’t the tactic I succeeded in catching him on, I did land a lot of other incredible fish off the surface, including one of the A Team… but it was all noted once again, he didn’t like feeding in numbers because he evaded me. I spent a lot of time looking that spring when I was surface fishing and I saw a lot of carp, but for whatever reason, I never saw Tyson, he was clearly a lonely old character. Noted, double noted!

I was catching steadily and the fish loved to feed there, I just had to be in the vicinity when Tyson fed there, probably when it was a little quieter and the rest of the pack were milling about elsewhere

Case study 2: 'A spot a little different'

In my angling experience, I have learnt that by doing the same as everyone else, you quite often catch the same as everyone else, and at the time, this was very little. They were moody carp at the best of times and there were only one or two consistent anglers on there, one being Dennis, a guy I have utmost respect for. He was having them and clearly doing something different (later in the year as I caught plenty we opened up and it turns out our tactics were very similar, both top rodding that year).

Within the first few sessions, I explored each swim, spent time flicking a lead around gauging an idea of the lakebed. It was a bit of a bowl to many, pretty clear due to the blue dye in the water, some small gravel seams here and there, but very little in the way of weed, in fact it was mostly claggy silt with some smoother bits thrown in. The general tactic that I quickly learnt was your typical – flick a lead out, find the gravel, spread some boilies… and in this lake’s case, a lot of ‘em!

As it was my first few weeks, I wanted to catch some fish first of all, I’d made a mental note that Tyson was a loner, but I wanted a bit of confidence so always fished on showing fish… at first! My plan was to fish two baits in the zone of showing fish and one just off in the hope that Tyson may be close by but not right in the mix. That way I could enjoy a few bites, with the chance of the big ‘un along the way.

I soon pinpointed the only weedbed in the Bermuda Triangle. I call it this as it’s a zone that can be hit by three main swims all facing each other. If you drew a line to each it would form a triangle. They had to love the weed, it was so sparse, just a small area of Canadian, it had to be the area as it was ‘a little different’ to the rest of the lake, which was clear and pretty featureless.

I targeted this area throughout my campaign really, knowing that at some point Tyson would visit. I was catching steadily and the fish loved to feed there, I just had to be in the vicinity when Tyson fed there, probably when it was a little quieter and the rest of the pack were milling about elsewhere.

The rig, looking battered, that tamed Tyson: fluroocarbon all the way through to a soft Hair

Case study 3: Rig tinkering to target the weed

Although I caught a few fish in this area using a Hinge, I always thought that it could be bettered, and knew deep down that at times it may be sitting unnaturally in the weed. After a brief chat to a mate, he convinced me to try something a little outside of the box. I was using a helicopter rig with the Hinge first of all but if you can imagine a Hinge in the Canadian pondweed, it has that heavy point where the putty sits splitting the boom section from the stiff section. That little pop-up section can sink into the weed, whilst the boom is sitting vertically in the strands. It can almost fall back onto the boom due to the weight of the putty constantly pulling it down. I’m sure it didn’t always happen, but some advice really got me thinking.

I started tinkering with a helicopter rig comprising stiff fluorocarbon all the way through to a slow sinking hookbait rather than a pop-up. The aim being to hang the bait up in the weed and let it settle of its own accord, ultimately appearing more natural. No weight on the link, putty or anything, just letting it settle with the stiffness in the material, with no pivot point of split sections either. My tailored rig would ensure that it simply hangs in the weed as the bait descends.

One of the lake’s characters

This ‘hang up’ effect was bettered when I pulled the top stop on the helicopter up to around 3ft (the depth of the weed). This would give it plenty of free movement as it slid up on the descent and simply ‘hang’ in the weed once my trusty PVA nugget had melted. The PVA was integral as it ensured that the hook point was clean. I tried it a few times in the edge just to observe the rig working and it was perfect. It was settled in the weed, not clear, but should fish feed it was proud and ready.

Introducing some squashed boilies, almost disc-shaped, encouraged them to sit at all levels in the weed, just like my hookbait would be. The tactic proved deadly and in the lead up to Tyson I landed over 20 fish. The rig was nothing fancy, simply 20lb fluorocarbon with a super sharp Wide Gape 6 and a soft Hair. Again, the key being simplicity, nothing to tangle and a PVA nugget to keep things tidy when it plunged into the Canadian.

It was clear that the carp readily accepted this colour far more than any other

Case study 4: Sandy, creamy, washed-out baits

I had never experienced carp being so honed into one type of bait. I started fishing the venue uber-confident in my deep, spicy red fishmeal. I’d caught loads of big fish on it and that type of bait was, and still is, my take anywhere bait. For some reason, though, I couldn’t get a bite on it.

A lot of creamy, sandy coloured baits went into ‘The Valley’ and they were totally harvested to eating it, in fact, so much went in they probably classed it as their regular meal. I was stubborn at first, when one day I decided that enough was enough. Fish were showing over me like dolphins and nothing was happening. I left two of my trusty spicy baits on and reached for the pot of creamy hookbaits that I’d had in the bag for years. I had three that day, and soon swapped over, for once I had to follow the trend on bait… the difference is I fished it better.

I’d cracked it, they couldn’t resist the washed-out baits

The fish were incredibly dark

The same was to be found with offerings and the hookbait itself. The lake would often fish two or three days after the anglers had left, in my mind once the fish knew it was safe to eat, judging it by colour. The kilos and kilos of bait would wash out, uneaten, the anglers would leave, and it would be time to banquet indicating safe food, at least this is what I felt. I soon learnt this and washed-out my offerings, sorting some off-creamy coloured slow sinkers. Quite often, I’d move into one of the main swims, in after someone else, and catch from the off using single washed-out slow sinkers… at the end of the day, even though they were fresh, they weren’t to the carp, they were safe!

I was landing too many, Tyson wasn’t going to be far

Case study 5: That feeling...

I was sat in the office chatting to Elliott Gray. I was catching them consistently on my trips and we were discussing my tactics. I remember him clear as day saying, “Mate, you’re gonna catch him, you’re having too many now!”

I knew that numbers of fish was fun, and I landed some belters, but my original plan of staying away from the crowds of fish would be the way to catch Tyson. After that chat, I booked a whole week off work – I had that feeling when all the stars align.

I arrived early in October for my weeklong campaign and spent a considerable amount of time walking. It was very mild, but with strong southerlies and rain. After seeing nothing, I plotted up in a swim known as The Point. This gave me access to the ‘Bermuda Triangle’. I blasted all three rods to this area, feeling the lead down onto soft weed, perfect! If I got a solid donk I would reel it in.

I sat back on the grassy verge giving me a view of the whole lake and incredibly I saw him

I sat back on the grassy verge giving me a view of the whole lake and incredibly I saw him. I was on the phone to Richard Stewart as this almighty common porpoised up to its tail. The deep, chestnut reds and bronzes shone back at me as this colossal specimen erupted 70yd or so out amongst my hookbaits. There was only one culprit and I swore at Rich on the phone, it was quite comical really as I’d never seen him yet. He crashed back into the depths and I was left dreaming all night. I awoke to motionless buzzers.

By morning, I could see fish crashing over the other side and after a brisk walk really considered my options. I sat back in my chair, puzzled as to what my next move should be. I asked myself whether I should move onto fish, trying to convince myself to not do it, and with this the bobbin slowly pulled up tight. I was fishing a tight clutch and immediately lifted into the specimen. It flat rodded me immediately stripping line from the clutch. After a twenty-minute battle and some fond memories I slipped the net under Tyson at just under 48lb. A few friends shared the occasion with me and I held up my quarry as the adventure slowly faded away and I left the lake never to return.

Small tweaks, piecing together the jigsaw helped me succeed far quicker than I could’ve imagined. Every adventure and carp is different, but just enjoy it and never put pressure on yourself; yes, you can stack the odds in your favour through hard work, strategic thinking and some luck, but always make sure that you enjoy it and fish how you want, for yourself.

After a twenty-minute battle and some fond memories, I slipped the net under Tyson at just under 48lb