43lb Royal Forty, Richmond Park
12/07/2010
The Royal forty has been a target of mine for the last four years, ever since I was shown a photo of it. Since then, up until a few days ago, the great fish seemed to shimmer before my eyes, just out of reach... Until a few days ago!
Now, for those who don’t know, the royal is a very special and very old fish that lives in Royal Parks’ Richmond Park. It was first caught in ’91: an unknown fish at the time, it was already over the magical forty, having grown on naturally. Since then, it has been fished for by some of the most celebrated anglers in the country, such as Nigel Sharp, Jonny Mcallister, and Terry Hearn, (appearing twice in his first book). Many more have failed to catch him from this challenging venue. It has always been low stock water, originally with only six carp, but nowadays that number is more like twenty-five. It has other challenges as well such as the general public and their dogs, exposure to the elements, very shallow water and no night fishing (legally at least!)
Last season I finally bought a ticket for the park, and duly blanked the whole summer on the top lake. Although I caught a few from the smaller lake, I was determined to get my hands on the big boy next door. I left the park to go to uni in September, but vowed to return to the park.
The autumn and winter were spent at uni, I was only able to get the rods out on a few very local waters. The spring, however, turned out to be my most productive period ever, and coincided with me joining the field testing team at ocean fresh. When by the end of my spring on the split lake at Yateley, I had become ‘second top rod’, with thirteen carp banked, along with catfish up to 50lb, all fish coming to SSRR or RSG.
When the exams had finished at uni in mid may, I began my baiting campaign on the big lake after finding an area that I was sure the carp would visit during the morning feeding spell. Every 2-3 days, I would put in whatever bait I could onto a spot about 15-20 yard square. This varied from 10kg of particles and chops to a few handfuls of Ocean Fresh boilies, but the point is that there was bait being introduced on a very regular basis. On the first day of the season, as is tradition, most of the lads who were serious about catching the fish turned up the night before, ready to cast in on the stroke of midnight. Now, it’s worth pointing out that for the last three June 16th’s, the big’un has come out before 10 am. This season was no different, as the lad next door to me let out the famous battle cry. It was great to see the fish on the bank at 46lb, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Having my target caught in front of me dented my confidence, so I spent a fun few days recuperating on the split lake. Three weeks into the season, I was planning again! Despite not fishing there, I had been keeping the bait going in. In hindsight, not having rods on my baited area for so long was to my advantage.
Anyway, on July 4th and 5th I put bait on the spot, in preparation for a very sneaky two-nighter on the 6th. First morning, I managed to lose a fish from the spot. That was an absolute gutter, but the silver lining was that I could get bites off the spot, and that I hadn't hooked the royal, as I saw it bombing around confidently just under the surface as it does on hot summer days.
Next morning, at 2 am I had a blinding run and blearily pulled into something heavy, The fish felt big all the way in but I didn't put on the head torch as I normally do, from fear of being seen by the park rangers. The fight was fairly uneventful but was very heavy. When I saw ripples 10 yard away from where I had waded out, I couldn’t resist it, flicked on the light, and was just in time to see an enormous pale shape materialize out of the clear water. I maneuvered the great fish into the waitinging net and let out the cry I had been practicing in my dreams for four years: “ROYAL!!!!!!”.
I sacked the fish up and arranged for some people to take the pictures when the park opened again to cars. I spent pretty much the next 5 hours in the water with the Royal checking that he was breathing alright. He let me know that he was by surging out of my hands, and lying good as gold, upright on the bottom!
Words cannot describe how euphoric I was in those early hours, and the blood red sunrise seemed just for me!
My mum, sister, and my mates Matt and Ryce came down to take some awesome pics, and a video. He was slightly underweight, at 43lb 12oz, but who honestly cares!
This makes it two years in a row for the RSG, having been caught last year by Stuart Harrison last June 16th. My thanks to team Ocean Fresh for producing this awesome bait!
Louis Archer
Age 19