Yately had some good names…Heather the Leather, Bazil (the forty), the big Orange, no prizes for guessing what hue that was, same for Conningbrooks “two tone”. Harrow had Chop Dorsal with its split fin, can you guess which one ? …then you have Fox pools Jack (the net ripper), Sonning eyes “the eye” with its deformed eye , Hortons Parrot ...the list goes on.
I think all the above reached 40+ years old, there is history behind them and I think its fitting they are given a name.
So far I've drawn Heather, Two Tone, Bazil, The Burghfield Common, The Royal Forty, The Bishop, The Black Mirror, Clarissa/Ravioli, The Wood Common, Benson, The Fat Lady, Mary and Mary's Mate.
I think I may be the first to do a series of works of named UK carp but not sure but I know others have done since, the trouble was I was uncertain of their popularity when I did the first one so limited them to 100 meaning some have sold out, they were far more popular than I could have hoped and helped pay for many a fishing trip for me up the rivers. They still live on also on in a calendar called Carp Legends which I hand make each year and gets repeat buyers. Just finished this year's which I'm rolling out soon, they take ages to put together but it's helps pay for my ravioli although I'd much rather have Mary and her mate
Doing the whole project taught me a lot about named carp and the people who fish for them, could be why I'll stick up for carpers on here when they get a bit of unfair clog.
