Chris Connaughton who works at Quay Sports has banked a carp known as the bullet at a weight of 44lb 12oz from Hacche Moor Fishery near South Molton. The capture of such a fine carp highlights the journey carp fishing has been on over the past 70 years. In 1952 Richard Walker banked a carp weighing 44lb from the legendary Redmire Pool on the Welsh Borders. The carp made headlines and beat the previous record of 26lb caught by Albert Buckley in 1930. Walker’s record stood until 1980 when Chris Yates caught a carp of 51lb 8oz from the same pool. The record has been broken on numerous occasions since 1980 and I like I suspect many others  have lost track of the carp record. Today’s carp anglers are very fortunate to have carp dwelling across the country that exceed those old milestones in fishing history. In North Devon there are numerous waters that contain carp of over forty pounds. This is a reflection on fishery owners, fish breeders, anglers’ baits and the potentially changing climate.

In North Devon we have several waters that would rival Redmire’s stock of carp.