It is fair to say that anglers love catching mirror carp because of their unique scale patterns, with no two fish looking alike. These distinctive patterns often lead to the fish being named based on their appearance, but a carp landed this week might just have the most unbelievable set of scales ever seen.
Tailored Angler-backed Arron Fisher was enjoying a session on Spooky Pool in Cornwall when he landed a fish aptly named Mr. Carp. Looking at the photos, it’s easy to see why the fish gets its name—as unbelievably, the scales near its tail literally spell out the word “CARP.” We aren’t sure what the chances of this happening are, but we can assure you the image isn’t edited in any way, making for one of the most unusual occurrences we have ever seen.
"With my workload being a tad busy this year, I’ve rarely had the chance to get out on the bank. However, the few times I’ve managed, I’ve been very lucky and put some amazing fish in the album, including a new UK PB—a 61lb+ fully scaled mirror," Arron told us.
"With this in mind, I wanted to squeeze in one more session before the New Year, with the hope of catching a fifty-pound carp. If I could manage it, it would mean that I’d caught carp ranging from doubles right up to sixty pounds in England in a single season, which would be something special for me. Also, a Cornish fifty in itself would be an unbelievable feat," he added.
"So, back in October, I contacted Jack Bazeley, who owns Spooky Pool, to see if he had any spaces available. The only slot he had was the weekend from Friday the 13th to Sunday the 15th of December."
"Spooky Pool is a small, intimate water but can be very tricky at times. There are only 18 carp in the lake, but the average size is incredible, with half the stock weighing over thirty pounds and the top two carp exceeding fifty pounds."
Arriving at the lake late Friday afternoon, Arron quickly got his rods out, drawing on his past experience fishing the venue. He baited two rods quite heavily with the house pellet and RG Baits Red Sea Squid, while the third was baited a little lighter. He opted for a single wafter on one rod and paired two solid bags with Lakebed Leads on the remaining rods.
"The lake was as inactive as I have ever seen it," Arron said. "I had no signs during the night, and the usual shows and fizzing I expect to see at dawn never materialised."
"Out of nowhere, I had a single bleep on the middle rod, which I had cast to a spot in the center of the lake. I jumped up from the bedchair and sat watching the rod. What seemed like a lifetime—but was probably only thirty seconds later—the rod bent round and melted off," he recalled.
"Heart now racing, I hit the rod, and a crazy battle commenced. The fish fought so hard, chugging up and down the lake, that I thought it might be one of the ones I was after."
"Eventually, I managed to bundle it into the net that my wife was holding and tried to compose myself. I peered into the net, and alas, it was not one of the desirable fifties that would have ended my season with a personal milestone, but it was still an unbelievable carp," he added.
"Even in this small water, this carp had not been on the bank for over two and half years. It is a carp known as, ‘Mr Carp’ due to his unique scale pattern spelling the word, ‘CARP’."
"Surely a one-off, well I have never seen anything like it in all my years carp fishing. For the record it went 33.10lbs. Still an incredible end to 2024 and I shall definitely try again for that Cornish fifty in 2025."
If you want to have a go at Spooky Pool, contact Jack Bazeley on Facebook for more details...
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