Almost the perfect common carp yesterday improved upon today

[Skeff]

Was that common from your time on Birchgrove Shaun?

[Shaun Harrison]

No, I actually caught that classic English common in France :hide:

I've been very lucky with nice commons over the years but it was the Mangrove I was a member of not Birch Grove.

Birch Grove was a man made water just up the road. The Mangrove is actually an ancient mere, totally natural. There is a chain of waters starting with Berth Pool where Excalibur - King Arthur's Sword
is supposed to be. That then feeds Birch Grove, which then feeds Fennymere or Erehwon as Tim Paisley used to call it in his writings. Erehwon is actually 'nowhere' spelt backwards. In the 80's it had an enormous leather in it called 'Pinky' which was one of the biggest carp in the country at the time. Fenneymere then feeds the Mangrove (I'm not allowed to call it by its proper name).

We had to do two work party days each as Mangrove members as the boards constantly needed repairing/replacing. It was a 4 hour round trip for me so I asked Tim one close season if I could bivvy up between a Saturday and Sunday so I could get my two days in with just the one lot of driving. Straight away he said why don't you come and do a night with me on Birch Grove? So I did.

I cast just as it was turning dark and wound in just after first light and was real lucky to catch a lovely scaly fish on my old Speedia centre pin and whilst photographing it my other rod came to life and I landed a lovely common on that.

I was never invited again

This was the mirror which I apologise has appeared on this forum before. It was an honour to get onto the front cover of the British Carp Study Group magazine with that fish...



and here was the common...

[Skeff]

Ah! I knew you were a Mangrove member in the past from your writing but could see the Perfect common wasn't a Mangrove fish from the background, so I put two and two together and made twelve!! Hence I wondered if it was Birch, as I've always loved the shape of the Birch commons, as epitomised by the one in your last post....

Une belle carp n'est pas? Il n'est pas importante que c'est une carpe Francais - ca ne fait rien!

I know the meres around there and it is really interesting to see such a cluster of ancient and very productive lakes so close together. Of them all, I think The Berth Pool is my favourite and I must make the effort to fish it some time soon; the history and myth of the area around the pool is remarkable and the pool itself is gorgeous... If only it was a little closer to Somerset! We have strong Arthurian connections in this area too, with Glastonbury and one of the many potential sites of Camelot nearby. I could imagine Excalibur rising from the depths of The Berth however, with a good common leaping in the background!

Interesting that those meres lie on that incredibly productive north/south line of carp waters from Redmire north to Cheshire - I've always wondered if the link is climatic, geological or merely chance. (Terrible pun - sorry!).

Anyway - some truly lovely fish Shaun :hat:

[Shaun Harrison]

Sorry for the delay, I was away yesterday photographing the seals on the East coast. There are loads around at the moment.

"Une belle carp n'est pas? Il n'est pas importante que c'est une carpe Francais - ca ne fait rien!" Very true. it matters not where a carp is born. A beautiful carp is always a beautiful carp and the carp after all never choose to be moved anywhere other than where they are born.

The carp in the Moselle river region where I caught the common are truly stunning looking fish. The mirrors are amongst the nicest I have seen anywhere in the world with lovely mahogany colours.

I was also lucky to receive a single invite on 'your favourite' of the Shropshire waters and again I was incredibly fortunate to land the fish below. To be fair I do have a invite to return and really should make the effort. I am sure you have heard many of the strange tales from there. So many anglers now too spooked to fish there. now I have spent nights alone all over the world and not particularly been spooked by anything but strangely enough Brook my carp dog spent most of the session cowering. She really wasn't happy there which is a total first. Most of the trip she was quivering behind my bed and was very reluctant to come out - her toilet trips were very quick.

I have never thought about the North/South line of waters from Cheshire to Redmire, very much food for thought.

Thanks :hat: