Meeting My Obsession

Rich Wilby reveals how he finally came to bank the carp of his dreams , the wood common from the mysterious spitfire pool.

- Rich Wilby

My right-hand buzzer let out one bleep and then went into a full one-toner at 3am, just as I had nodded off. The fish tore through two weed beds and erupted on the surface, then the most stomach-wrenching feeling hit me as everything went slack and the hook fell out! I acted like a child and threw my rod in a way that Fatima Whitbread would have been pleased with and jumped back under my brolly, cursing my luck and using language my mother wouldn’t be proud of. I was certain that I had lost my goal. I had no idea that, in just three hours’ time, my feeling of utter despair would turn to elation.

I’ll start by saying that this exceptional common carp should never have taken me as long to catch as it did. The lake only has around 14 carp present, which sounds like a low stock, but in just 1½ acres I was never very far away from it every time that I set my traps. If you include all the nights before I started a proper campaign, you could even add on another 20 attempts in the last eight years or so. I’m not making myself sound too hot I know, but in my defence all of the other carp have graced my net up to four times each in that period. The big common just seemed to have extraordinary instinctive powers (that’s what I told myself). I’m sure I lost it once or twice in that time but I must give this fish serious credit for making me feel like a noddy for so long.

The main problem on Spitfire Pool in the last couple of years has been the extensive weed growth. It has been so bad in places that my Jack Russell, Alfie, has walked across the surface. I was really limited to where it was possible or safe to place my baits, even with a boat. Getting a bite wasn’t easy and landing them was a nightmare – there was always more weed than carp in the net.