A little tale from the pen of Chris Douce

@CARPTALK
Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:35:58 +0000

***The Elusive***
A little tale from the pen of @chris_douce of a rather special carp, one that only makes an appearance every few years at best – “The take was savage, easily pulling braid from a tight clutch and wrenching the tip downward as it did so, whilst bursting through a weed bed and boshing out the other side of it as I got to the rod! After about 15 minutes of ‘twitchy bum time’ with the fish lodged in weed, it eventually broke free and kited across in front of Maisy and I with its dorsal and scaley back partially out of the water, leaving us knowing I was attached to something a bit special. I was over the moon that the barbless hook held on long enough for me to lift the net around it!

It became clear it was a bit large as I brought it to the mat with Mark, River and Maisy looking on. Even so, seeing the needle almost effortlessly swing past the forty pound mark and settle on 41.8 was a surprise to me. A balanced Atlantic Heat bottom bait over a whole load of small Baitworks bits and bobs was it’s downfall, as is my way”