We went for a riverside walk last week. A couple of hours and then off to a restaurant for lunch. Of course riverside walks are just an excuse for fish spotting. I had seen a decent 15lb+ carp making its way up a shallow, fast stretch and I was following a shoal of small barbel when we came to a small pod of medium sized carp sunning themselves. After a while I went off to look at another area, a large submerged island of mud and weed. There were a few carp there, but then a huge white shape emerged from under a weed raft. The carp around it were between 10lb to 15lb and the white carp was at least three times the size of the biggest commons. It wasn't deep, but by God was it long. I was mesmerised. There was a ghost carp in the Dearne at one time, but nothing like this fish. As Steve has said; the river carp tend to be lean. This one is no exception. I have been looking into this stretch for over ten years and never seen it previously. And there is nothing on social media about it. A true phantom.
Catching it however would be another matter and I am not dedicated enough to put the time and effort in. For one thing it is only one of at least a dozen in that stretch so the odds are small on the big one taking the bait first, and anyone fishing for it would naturally attract attention. Nobody fishes this stretch as far as I know and I ain't letting the circus know about it.
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