We all get that sinking feeling... it’s Sunday evening and there’s a busy day at work looming, what do you do to cheer yourself up? Nope - I don’t drink, so I decided to have a couple of hours down at Barlow and try to get one ‘off-the-top’.

Trying to catch carp with a floating bait must be the most exciting method of catching fish I know, (if there are any fly-fishers out there, just imagine a trout taking your dry - and multiply it by 10).

So at 7pm I left home for the short journey to the fishery, it took me just 15 minutes before I pulled into the car park. The place was still quite busy with anglers getting the most of the evening sport, so a walk around the banks for a chat and to learn if anything was being caught was the order of the day.

‘One or two nice carp’ had been caught during the day, but things had gone ‘a little quiet’ - was the majority opinion, but it had been a warm day, the water temperature was rising, so I must be in with a chance.

It was nearly an hour later before I got the rod out the boot, nothing flash, just an old Shakespeare Quadra and an equally old Baitrunner filled with 12lb Maxima, a 6ft hook-length of flouro-carbon with a size 10 tied on the end and a battered old Fox controller completed the setup. For bait I use the ever-reliable Morrisons’ crusty loaf.

I decided to fish from the peg in front of the Cabin, and as one of the regulars loaded his kit into his car - he wished me good luck commenting on the fact that he hadn’t had a bite in four hours (what great encouragement) and to make matters worse, he’d been fishing in the peg adjacent to the one I’d just chosen!

‘Never mind - get a bait out, there’s always a chance’ - I thought to myself, so on with a bit of crust and a gentle lob into the middle of the pond. Almost immediately there was a swirl on the water surface, (I’m sure carp do this to give you chest pains), then an even bigger swirl signalled a take and I was in!

What a strange fight - I couldn’t work out what I’d got on the end, perhaps a small carp, maybe a big bream, it felt very unusual, no screaming runs, just a splashy, heavy weight.

Applying pressure with the confidence 12lb Maxima gives you, I soon had the fish coming towards the bank - and I then saw what I’d hooked.

A Grassie - a great big, long Grassie. Could it be the 30lb’er that was stocked a couple of months ago?

Even with 40 years of angling experience, I have to admit, my legs started to wobble with the excitement, they wobbled even more as the fish decided to head towards the roots of a nearby tree, but with gentle pressure (note it’s ‘gentle pressure’ now I’ve seen the size!) it was soon guided into the waiting net.

It looked massive as I grabbed the arms of the net to lift it from the water - then it went absolutely crazy - and I mean crazy! It thrashed the water to a foam and drenched me in the process (no - I don’t always look as wet as this), but with a heave I placed it onto my unhooking mat.

Unfolding the net I gazed in awe - what a cracking fish! What a strange mouth! What a beauty! (Dog with two tails springs to mind!) Where’s me scales?

Weighing the fish whilst it was still in the net, I watched the needle swing to 23lb, (looks bigger than that I thought), then I noticed it’s head was still on the floor! Lifting the scales higher the needle eventually settled on 26lb - take a pound off for the net and there you are - 25lb of the prettiest grass carp you could wish to see.

I had to get a quick photo - remembering grass carp can be delicate I wanted to return it back into the water asap. So into its mouth with my thumb, other hand under the middle - I tried to lift it up for a trophy shot. It certainly didn’t like that! It bit me! It’s mouth and lips were like hard rubber and it clamped them on my thumb in protest!

If you have a look at the main pic - you’ll notice the fish is still on the mat, I couldn’t hold it aloft!
But all good things have to come to an end and I reluctantly slid the carp back into the water, I really didn’t want to let go - I’ll probably never catch another fish like it - but I suppose that’s what keeps me coming back.

Of course I had to go back a couple of days later - I thought I might be in with a chance of catching the 30... but alas no such luck, but I did manage to land another Grassie - this time it weighed in at 10lb.