My advice would be to go for two mats.
A large flat type mat, like the nash Monster Unhooking mat-- ?9.99
And the second, a sling mat combo type, ie tha Nash Sling Mat ?29.99 or the Beani Sling Mat ?39.99
That way you get the best of both worlds, as the sling mat cuts down on moving the fish from net to mat to sling to mat etc etc
And the large flat mat goes underneath the sling mat, as they tend not to be that big, and I certainly, have experianced problems with the fish slipping off of the quite small, but well padded, sling mat.
I personally now use a Nash Beani Sling Mat, together with a Plain Nash mat underneath. Although this is a bit of a bulky parcel to carry to the lake, it more tha makes up for it when you have a fair sized fish doing its best to slap you round the face with its tail!!
All the main names, not just nash, make very good mats now, just look at the thickness of the foam/polyballs and the size.
You could even make your own out of a 'Kip Mat' from camping shops. This is a six foot roll of closed cell foam used for sleeping on. It is not very thick, but can be cut in half and stuck back to back as it were, one black bin liner later and hey presto, one giant carp mat... with disposable outer to cut down on disease transfer.
Well done on your latest result, better than what I have mustered yet!!
Ry.
