Huge carp for Antonio


Incredible fish from Rainbow for Nutrabaits fieldtester!

Pic right: Antonio with his awesome 66lb carp from Rainbow Lake, near Bordeaux.

Italian Nutrabaits fieldtester and owner of The Carp & Co Tackle shop in Rieti, Antonio Di Reinzo is no stranger to big fish, but even he was slightly taken aback by the recent capture of his 30.2 kilo fish from Rainbow Lake, France.

The mirror which, for those of you who still work in old money weighed just under 66lbs 8oz, fell for home rolled Trigga with elevated levels of Green Lipped Mussel Extract, Pineapple Nutrafruit and N-Butyric Acid.



Latest Carp Catches from Old Bury Hill

Old Lake carp in feeding frenzy!

Pic right: Bradley Shackleton with a 29lb 12oz Temple mirror.
Gavin Campbell had a great night catching 14 fish to 23lb 1oz. Fishing peg 26 on the Old Lake, Gavin fished Mainline baits to the open water catching steadily throughout the night. With most fish averaging 16lb, the twenty was a real treat.

Daniel and David Eke and Darren Tanner also had a great session early week catching 40 fish between them which included 3 twenties and a couple of 19lb’ers. Fishing pegs 73 – 75 behind the island, the trio fished Destiny baits to the island margins catching throughout their session.

Another angler to do well was Martin James who caught 10 carp to 20lb during his session on peg 55. Martin fished 10mm Robin Red boilies. Paul Clarke also had a good session catching 14 fish from peg 4 on the front bank. Fishing 18mm Icelandic Red baits to the open water, Paul caught steadily throughout his 24 hours session topping off his catch with two twenties weighing 23lb and 21lb 6oz.

Turning to Temple, whilst the fishing has generally been a little hard, a few good fish have been reported. Bradley Shackleton caught two fish during his recent Temple session topped by a stunning 29lb 8oz mirror. Bradley fished peg 11 catching on Icelandic Red. Grabbing a short day session midweek, Tony Tremlett managed a plump 23lb mirror also losing a fish. Tony fished an Icelandic Red boilie to the island margins. Although no details yet, there are also reports of 29lb and 27lb mirrors being caught



Elver fishermen fined for using illegal nets

£4,509 penalty!

Three men caught fishing for elvers with illegal nets have been ordered to pay £4,509 in fines and costs. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

Environment Agency bailiffs were carrying out routine checks on the River Parrett at Bridgwater on March 5, 2008, when they found Paul Squire fishing with a fixed net.

An elver dip net should only be operated by hand. Officer’s saw that Squire had attached a rope and float to his net and fixed the net handle to the riverbank using a stake. A series of long poles had been attached to the net to keep it in a fixed position in the river.

A net used in this way, known as a ‘fixed engine’, gives a fisherman an unfair advantage and enables him to catch more than his fair share of elvers. Eel numbers have declined in recent years and it is important stocks are not over-fished.

Squire, of Chilton Street, Bridgwater, was fined £700 and ordered to pay £925 costs by local magistrates after pleading guilty to four fishing offences of contravening the National Eel Fishing Byelaws 2004 and the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

Paul Meare, of Osborne Road, Bridgwater, who was fishing with Squire, admitted three offences and was fined £525 and ordered to pay costs of £847.

In a separate incident on February 22, Steven Riddle, of Penzoy Avenue, Bridgwater, was caught on the River Parrett using an illegal elver net. He admitted three offences and was fined £525 and was also ordered to pay full costs of £987.

All three men had nets and equipment seized at the time of the offences. The court ordered these items to be destroyed.

In his summing up the magistrate at Bridgwater told the fishermen they were lucky not to be banned from elver fishing. He added if they were caught in the future a very heavy fine would be imposed and a ban would be part of that sentence.

‘Illegal fishing damages eel stocks, is detrimental to the environment and unfair to law abiding fishermen. We will not tolerate the use of fixed nets and will prosecute anyone we catch fishing illegally on the River Parrett,’ said Richard Dearnley for the Environment Agency.

The Environment Agency regularly inspects the elver fishery on the River Parrett. Fishermen pay £69 a year for a licence. Dip nets are used to catch elvers – baby eels – as they enter freshwater after their journey from the Sargasso Sea. Elver fishing can be lucrative. In 2005 the price of elvers peaked at £525 per kilogram. They currently fetch around £200 per kilogram.