Julian wrote:Blunderer wrote:Leigh wrote:I have just started reading The Lost Diary by Chris Yates - He comments that he saw the King at Redmire , a fish he had only glimpsed once, yet knew that is was probably the biggest carp in Europe.
Can anyone shed any more light on this leviathan?
Sorry to break the magic, but the problem with the legend of The King is twofold:
All of the big fish in redmire in that era were caught many times, and photographed, weighed and on many occasions named. The pool is tiny and fished very hard by very good anglers, so this is no surprise. But 'the king' was never caught.
However, there is a great photograph from the 60s which just could be it, emerging from a weed bed .You never truly know, Also, in the 1976 drought, the pool dried right up. The entire population of the lake could be seen most days on the top of the pool, and nobody saw or photographed the King.
despite the evidence.
The magic has not been broken.
Your statement starting 'all the big fish in Redmire of that time were caught many times.................' is completely incorrect, and is information put about by anglers who seriously believe that if a water is fished extensively all of the big carp are seen and caught. Just because Redmire is small ( 2.7 acres is not that small) it makes no difference. There are many waters, some as small or smaller than Redmire which contain carp that are never caught and rarely seen. I believe a lot of the belief about all the big fish being caught may stem from comments on the 'Redmire Forever' film, by a few anglers who can't accept not catching or seeing all the big carp in a water.
With regard to the statement that 'in 1976 the pool dried right up' , it just is not true. The level dropped a lot - as did all waters in southern England , and during that period the Bishop was not seen, nor were any of the other giants, but from 1977 onwards they were, and a subsequent netting in 1979? ( I think it was 79) did not produce the Bishop or any carp over 30 lbs, yet in 1980 it was caught at 50lbs.
Snape's posts on this also make it clear that there is a 4ft plus common currently in Redmire that has been seen on occasions over the last seven years but it has not been caught.....................................yet .
You of course cannot say my statement that the big fish were all caught is "incorrect", because it's just your opinion. My opinion is that the majority of "uncaught monsters" around the UK these days are the product of over-tired, over-active, under-stimulated minds. Or imaginations.
Many credible anglers claim to have seen big carp in Redmire, and I'm not going to discount the possibility that a giant common existed back in the 70s, when tackle was much more basic, which didn't pick up baits. But if I'm honest, given the evidence, I'd say it was pretty unlikely, and even less likely in the modern era. Human testimony is not particularly powerful evidence, given the workings of the human brain in certain situations. Ghost stories illustrate that.
I'd love the monster myths of Redmire, and every lake, to be true, but the reality is that most aren't. But we will never, ever know, and I'm happy for it to be like that. There isn't enough mystery in angling now.