Being known for fishing primarily short overnight sessions in between work an instant attraction to Brooklands was that anglers can drive and park behind most of the swims on the lake, and in addition to me it also attracts lots of other anglers thanks to good access and a great stock of carp...

Luckily enough, the carp hadn’t managed to get too far down in the bay near to the snags, so after continuously pumping the carp soon came into view, as it was lying on its side wallowing yards from the boat, gulping for air...

The excitement was building, and frankly I was going crazy waiting to get started. Doing the same thing, I elected to turn up before first light, see where the other anglers were and then find the fish. Low and behold the fish were doing their usual, showing long out in the middle...

The carp looked massive and had not been out for a few months, and the weight was a massive shock to us, and I was absolutely over the moon. It felt great to catch one of my target fish from the venue...

Up on the scales she went 58lb 12oz, a new PB and to say I was elated would be an understatement. With the pictures done and the Ulcer Fish safely returned to her home, I sat back and tried to take it in. I did not have much time to do that though as a short while later Rob was playing his first Welly carp...

The lake held around 35 to 40 carp with 9 of them going over 30lb, so a mega stock of old carp. In fact, all the Railway carp are very old historic fish and jet black in colour, so they are very special indeed and have been fished for by some great anglers over the years...

The stock is around 70 carp, with the biggest hitting 40lb at the right time of year and 2 others at around 35lb. All the fish in the pond have characters, and because of the variety of strains and the dark colour of the carp all make for an excellent photo...