The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Picture on the back of Carp Fever by Kevin Maddocks published in 1981. Both caught on the of 26/10 1978 - his first 30 at 36lb 8oz followed by the 38lb 8oz. A brace not forgotten.

Olly wrote:Picture on the back of Carp Fever by Kevin Maddocks published in 1981. Both caught on the of 26/10 1978 - his first 30 at 36lb 8oz followed by the 38lb 8oz. A brace not forgotten.

it is just amazing really. i rate those captures as highly as the bishops'-which i rate highly!!!! granted the techniques were rather different, but those 3 captures proved to the angling world what was possible.

Amazing feat. Extraordinary colour...

Snape wrote:Amazing feat. Extraordinary colour...

Agreed, they dont make them like that any more! Beautiful fish.

That is amazing, and what a great fish!

The above is the shot that was used on the back cover of the first edition of Carp Fever.

For those who don't know about these fish Yeoveny had to be partly backfilled to allow for the motorway so shortly after Pete caught these the fish were netted out and removed.

These two fish were put into Longfield (AKA Fox Pool, Staines etc) and the 36lb fish Pete is holding became Longfields first 40lb plus fish.

The larger of the 2 the fat 38 disappeared for a long while then out of the blue my ex (half step pretend - don't ask) brother in law Baz Varney caught it at 31lb.

I was told it was moved into Wraysbury sometime after Baz's capture but never heard that verified.

It was however an incredible feat of angling when Pete caught them from Yeoveny and typical Pete fashion being brave enough to tackle the un-known on the off chance there could be something big there.

The story of those catches is all told in detail , with more photos as well, in Carp Side of the Moon - great book.

Looking forward to reading my copy. Was lucky to pick one up from Pete pre-launch but have purposely left it on the 'not read yet' shelf. Got quite a few books to get through at the moment and I've been determined to keep focussed on my river fishing so didn't want to be inspired to getting the carp rods out again just yet.

I spent a fair bit of time with Pete Springate this week-end and thought I would bring this thread up to date and mention he has now caught carp off of the surface every month now for 5 years and one month. A remarkable record I would be surprised to see any other angler beat.

He said he was going to stop this personal target after 5 years but I wonder?

Julian wrote:The story of those catches is all told in detail , with more photos as well, in Carp Side of the Moon - great book.

Agreed. I'm just enjoying the second volume 'New Moon Rising'. Some great pictures in there and like all good fishing books makes you want to get out fishing.

Pete