ICONS | The Fat Lady

What makes a carp special to you? Your opinion will almost certainly be different to the next man and that is the beauty of carp fishing. Every carp is different, each fish has a unique scaling pattern and is distinguishable from the next. Of course, this is applicable to common carp too, although the details are more subtle.

In the UK we have been blessed to have the opportunity to fish for some of the best carp to have ever lived. With effort and foresight or sometimes by mistake, many of us can still angle for some very special carp. The Fat Lady was one such mirror carp that was easily recognisable, especially as her popularity grew over the years having broken the 50lb barrier.

This special carp is certainly an icon, she certainly wasn’t just another big mirror carp that specimen hunters would readily disregard. Anglers would travel from around the country in hope of putting this fish in their photo album. She often displayed the most beautiful shades of greys in many catch photos, in fact many would refer to her as the Grey Lady rather than her unfortunate title. It was a rotund carp for sure but certainly not out of proportion, her length and width made sure of that.

The Fat Lady lived in the Lagoon lake in the St Ives Fishery for many years, until her unfortunate demise in the summer of 2011. The Cambridgeshire complex is managed by Gordon Howes and is a popular destination for specimen anglers, with nine lakes in the portfolio boasting enormous bream, eels, pike and tench. The Lagoon is approximately 30 acres in size.

Although the Fat Lady is no more, the most famous carp on the complex at present is Colin. This superb mirror carp regularly weighs over 50lb and is similar to the Fat Lady in several ways. Colin is lightly scaled, has big leather-like flanks, often shows its weight well throughout the year and is a very sought after target fish. With the River Ouse running alongside the nine lakes this particular complex really is a piece of angling heaven.

At the turn of the millennium in the month of February an important moment in carp fishing history was marked as a weekly publication reported the capture of the Fat Lady from the previous year. This was not standard practice but because of the significance of the catch it was only right to report that angler Paul Rudd had caught a 42lb 12oz mirror carp. In 1994 the Fat Lady had escaped from St Ives into the River Ouse due to flooding. People were now aware of this fish because of her ever-increasing size, although she continued to live in the river for the following five years, breaking 40lb. She became the largest fish to have been caught from the Great Ouse until she was returned to the fishery in 1999.

Although unknown to the masses, Paul’s capture turned out to be the third reported capture. A number of years later this very carp was to become extremely popular following its numerous appearances in publications thereafter. Those keen-eyed anglers who paid careful attention at the time recognised that this fish was growing at a steady rate and quickly became one of the largest mirror carp in Britain. The likes of Two Tone from Conningbrook, the Black Mirror from the Mere, the Eye from Sonning and the Jockey from Pingewood were among some of the biggest carp living in the early 2000s following the death of the iconic Mary (from Wraysbury) in August 2001. The big-carp scene was ever growing and interest was rocketing in these true once-in-a-lifetime fish.

What is most interesting in carp fishing history is the journey of those who pursued the carp of their dreams and the effort that goes into such a capture. Those who many of us recognise as some of the most successful carp anglers of all time have regularly struggled in their pursuit. Those who chased the Fat Lady for several years know only too well the sacrifices they had to make to get the job done but agree it was worth it in the end. The Fat Lady still remains as a personal best for many who caught her and for many too she was their first ever 50lb carp.

As mentioned, St Ives Lagoon is notorious for holding multiple specimen sized fish and bream anglers as well as tench anglers would frequent the banks. It is no surprise that on occasions those fishing for other species could find the Fat Lady in their landing net. In 2010 Paul Garner was fishing the Lagoon with intentions of hooking into the lake’s specimen bream and had fed heavily with groundbait hoping to draw a shoal in. Paul was knowledgeable of the habits of these fish and the complex itself but he wasn’t expecting to land the lake’s largest carp on bream tackle!

That he did and the Fat Lady weighed an enormous 54lb 8oz, beating his previous best carp of 32lb. Fortunately for him the lake was suffering from a heavy algae bloom preventing him seeing the fish he was playing for the majority of the fight.

It was clear from the size of this fish and how quickly it grew that the Fat Lady really did like her food, as do most big carp hence their size! Despite her enormity she could often be heard or seen leaping out of the water, giving the game away and occasionally leading to a capture, which is what happened for Dave Lane. Dave never targeted the Fat Lady intentionally; he was actually fishing another lake on the complex but because of an algae bloom he moved lakes until it cleared. In just 10 nights fishing Dave had the Fat Lady sitting in his landing net, his rig cast on to a showing fish at close range saw him holding up his fourth UK 50lb carp.

In May 2004 Terry Hearn also caught the big grey mirror, marking the capture of his third UK 50lb carp, weighing 51lb 1oz. It was his very first bite from the lake in roughly 50 nights of fishing.

Shortly afterwards Terry’s friend Mick Elborough was to land the lake’s largest but this time on the surface. Amazingly it was also his first bite too and a new floater-caught record carp to boot. Three years later a new complex and lake record weight was recorded at 60lb 6oz caught by a northern angler. Stuart (otherwise known as Northern Stu) was good friends with Simon Giblin who was a fellow St Ives member and had been fishing for the Fat Lady for seven years, and in the summer of 2009 he too realised his dream. Once more she was 60lb!

In later life the Fat Lady was understandably pressured, as are many known big carp, but looking back on her previous captures she really did show her habits rather well. NashBait’s Scopex Squid was a real favourite of hers and this bait saw her downfall on multiple occasions, once again showing that a good bait never blows. May was also a favourite month to fish St Ives Lagoon for many, as was the new moon period leading up to the first quarter.

The sad news of the death of the Fat Lady spread fast in the angling press, national newspapers and social media. She was buried on site behind the swim known as Fatty’s Point. Despite some untruths from countless sources, one of the country’s biggest carp died of natural causes. The weather that year would have had a significant impact as the changeable conditions from hot to cold meant the resident carp aborted spawning on numerous occasions. Only the year previous Two Tone (the British Record Carp) died in its Conningbrook home and the year before that Benson from Bluebell had died too. The Fat Lady was crowned as Britain’s biggest freshwater fish following the death of Two Tone.

The foresight of St Ives Fishery manager Gordon Howes saw him stock a number of fish into the Lagoon in 2014. It is something he was planning for many years, although threatening the original stock, especially the older residents, wasn’t worth the risk. The future of the lake looks brighter than ever and that goes for the entire complex too.

There may not be a fish quite like the Fat Lady swimming around again in the future, but with the luxury of having such a wide range of good quality fish available to stock into lakes there are exciting times ahead.

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