The August "double" - in the bag!

Under no circumstances will I ever be perceived as a "Carp angler"purely because I refuse to embrace the tunnel visioned obsession of the modern day, myopic, crew who really think that the only species worthy of capture is an introduced alien! What it won't do, however, is prevent me from enjoying the time spent in their pursuit. Carp are superb, sporting, fish which now grow to weights that are off the scale. In the 1980's a set of Avons were perfectly suited, they went up, in 1oz divisions, to 32 lbs! In 2023, scales need to be able to register weights in excess of 60 lbs to be included in the kit of the keen Carper. I own a set of "Flyweight Mk II" Ruben Heatons which will max out at 40 lbs. I can't foresee a situation where 40 lbs isn't well within the limits of my angling endeavours inside the East Kent area. To be fair, thus far into 2023, a set of scales which topped out at 15 lbs would have been more than enough for the majority of the Carp I've landed. Today I went back down to Sandwich Coarse Fishery for another "sun-downer" session. Within an hour of getting my baits in the water I had been beaten up by a very powerful fish which actually snapped my 12 lbs mono, by bolting through a lily-pad right under the rod tip! Less than an hour and twenty minutes later, the same rod was away again, and this time I was able to maintain the upper hand and eventually guide a superb Mirror, of 22 lbs 4 oz, into my landing net. 

The couple who are in the background actually watched me land this fish.
They are on holiday at the Sandwich Coarse Fishery site, having driven their caravan down from
darkest Rochester! 

The August "double" and there's still another fortnight to go before I have to worry about a September version. There's certainly plenty more opportunities to exploit before the calendar says otherwise.