Which One???

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Mine would be The Bishop......

Maybe because it was he largest mirror carp to be caught from Redmire pool, and that is for every weight it ever came out at. Perhaps it’s just because it was the best looking carp I’ve seen, the colours and shape all carp should be modelled upon. Add the fact that it slipped up three times in 73 and then managed to avoid capture for 7 years whilst gaining a whopping 13lbs!!! I’ll explain.

The bishop, or the “38” as it was sometimes called, was born in Holland around 1932, brought on at The Surrey Trout Farm near Haslemere by a Mr Donald Leney and stocked into Bernithan Pool in 1934 just as a yearling weighing less than a pound.

There the linear mirror grew and grew, feasting on the abundance of natural food the pool had to offer until in 1959 Edward Price of Gloucester caught it at a massive 40lb 8oz, the second ever 40lb carp taken in this country and the first mirror to achieve this weight. The huge carp would have been around 26 years old.

Next up, in 1966 when England were winning the World Cup, Roger Bowskill had an encounter with The Bishop, slightly down in weight at 38lb 8oz, but it was the bizarre events surrounding the weighing of this capture that are remembered. As there were no scales and nobody in at the farm, the fish was taken in a wet hessian sack to Ross-On-Wye and weighed on the butchers scales in the street. Returned to the pool and there it lived on happily for many years despite its ordeal.

Syndicate leader Tom Mintram was next to catch it at 38lb 10z in 1970 and during the famous “Night of the Beer Barrels” John Macleod caught it at 40lb in 1972, the first in a string of captures.

Jack Hilton was acquainted with The Bishop the same year when the great fish weighed 40lb 3oz and the following year it was landed three times, Bob Jones at 38lb 12oz, Chris Yates caught it for the first time at 38lb and the legendary Bill Quinlan at 38lb 2oz.

Then, that fateful day, June 16th 1980, whilst stalking fish in the shallows, Chris Yates hooked at landed not only the biggest carp ever caught in this country, but the first fifty and, for me, the best looking carp ever to swim our waters.

18 months after its last capture, the mighty Bishop sadly passed away aged around 50.

[Gary Bills]

I think I would have liked to have caught Mr Andrews' Cheshunt 20 pounder - not the largest of the famous carp, but a perfect looking "Old English Common."
I arrive at Cheshunt down the long flight of steps, beneath the high trees: only to find the friendly Sheringham already fishing at the pool. The year is 1915, one year before the Andrews capture; the month is October and already gold and red leaves are wavering down and turning slow circles on the dark green water, as a gentle breeze rises. Evening is falling, and Sheringham's storm lantern is sending zig-zags of light across the ripples, towards his crow-quilll float.
I set up next to him, carefully positioning the lamp so that it will illuminate a pre-baited area - on the edge of a dense, dark mat of weeds - while not shining directly on the rocking surface. Into this narrow corridor of light, I cast my own float. The line is stout; the hook is a number six, baited with a lobworm. I watch the red tip of my float; now it is merely a black exclamation mark against the yellow glow - "pleasing in appearance, more pleasing in disappearance.."
And the float has disappeared! I strike and the battle is on - alarming, desparate and wholly engaging.
On the bank the fish is a gasping miracle of burnished gold and copper.
We take a quick image with Sheringham's box camera, by the light of the lanterns; and then we slip her back.
"I think we need a name for this fish!" I say.
"Indeed," says Sheringham, "what about Chestnut?" he suggests, as he picks up a fallen burr and grins.

[Weyfarer]

[Snape]

Boo to the zoo!

[StalkingLuke]

For the bargain price of £20 + you can go where you like now!

I'm pretty sure I would have seen Clarrisa in the early 70's, I certainly visited the zoo several times around that time as a young boy, but only have a photograph of Guy the gorilla.

I wonder if Dick W ever thought of reclaiming her and putting her back into Redmire, it must have been a sad sight to see her swimming around in a small tank, although perhaps preferable to being set up in a case.