A 30lb-plus river carp is an extremely rare and difficult fish to catch, so you can imagine how excited Harry Keys was when he banked two of this size in two nights.
Fishing a stretch of the Thames from behind his boat, Harry started a prebaiting campaign at the start of August, after seeing some very special carp in the area.
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"I thought I would feed small amounts of bait every day, so there was a consistent trickle of feed going in with no lines in the water," he told us.
Using a mix of Dynamite Baits Monster Tiger Nut boilies and whole tiger nuts, Harry prepared the spot for a week before finally fishing it.
"It didn't take long for my first bite," he said.
"On my very first night I managed to catch a 28lb and a 16lb common, which I was over the moon with, but I knew I had seen bigger in the area."
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Deciding to rest the swim again for a couple of days, Harry continued to bait the spot and build the confidence of the remaining carp in the area, adding Dynamite Monster Tigernut pellets to the mix to keep the fish on the spot for longer.
"On my next night I was lucky enough to catch a 36lb common, I was very, very happy, and I thought it couldn't get any better than this," Harry said.
"I was going to leave it again and come back in a couple of days to not spook the fish, but they seemed to be still feeding confidently."
His decision to carry on fishing was then rewarded in spectacular fashion, with a 39lb 12oz common the next night, a fish believed to be the biggest in the stretch.
"I was absolutely lost for words, it was a night I will remember for a lifetime," he told us.
"And who knows, there may always be one bigger hanging around."
At the business end Harry used 15mm white Dynamite Source pop-ups presented on Chod rigs - phenomenal angling!
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