When I was told that there were carp in the River Gipping I wasn’t shocked. After all ‘Dippy’, a well known Gipping carp, had been in there long enough, and like a few people I know, I spent my fair share of time down there feeding him. He has now done a Houdini, and jumped out of the river, hitchhiked his way up the A12, and splashed down in a lake in Essex. I’ve heard of nomadic fish, but that really does take the biscuit.
Anyway, I digress, I was told that during the massive floods, a few weeks ago, a huge amount of carp had found their way into the salt water side of the gates on west end road in Ipswich. So off I toddled, rod in hand, to the said site, to help catch some and put them back into the fresh water.
Well, blow me, it would appear that the whole of Ipswich was down there, all with the same noble thought, and to my surprise, most were just kids, with all manner of equipment. I even saw one youngster with a beachcaster and multiplier reel, float fishing.
As I walked by I commented on his gear. He looked at me, smiled, and said, ‘I’ve had two already mate.’ I put my thumb up, and replied. ‘Well done son.’ Then walked away trying to remove the flea from my ear. The little blighters were everywhere, but they were all there doing their best to re-home the carp, so who am I to complain? No one, that’s who, so I just got on and tried to help the best I could. 
Do you know what it feels like to sit on a nice grassy bank, the water running quietly by, the sun high in the sky, your expensive fishing gear by your side, unhooking mat, 42in net, Rueben scales, top-of-the-range rods and reels, Delkim alarms? And then, sitting next to you, some snotty little kid with a tuppenny set-up shouts, ‘Oy, mate, help me land this one will yer, I ain’t got a net.’ And you sit there catching sod-all. IT BLOODY HURTS!
It would appear that the carp were enjoying being in the brackish water. They are everywhere, but like most carp, not that easy to catch. I sat for a while basking in the full heat of the British summer, all four days of it, wondering if there wasn’t another Dippy in there, when a young lad almost took off from the bank to start water skiing. His rod was bent double, and the look on his face was a picture; fright, happiness, and eagerness all rolled into one. I made my way with my net over to where he was screaming and tried to coach him through his ordeal. It was no easy task. He was all of a fluster. His line shot off this way, then that way, and all I could offer was, ‘let it have line if it wants it!’
Great, what did that mean to him? Nothing, that’s what. He was shell-shocked. Together, we started to walk up the river, as the fish took him for a ride, and after some five minutes struggling, the fish seemed to give in, and with a little help from yours truly, the dark, almost black mirror, lay in the net.
He was jumping and hollering, ‘What do you reckon it weighs mister?’ I looked at it. ‘With a bit of luck it might just make twenty.’ I said. Out came the scales and it registered 23lb 2oz after taking off the weight of the net. The kid was cock-a-hoop, his previous best had been hammered, for it was only just 8lb. We sat him down, and placed the fish in his arms. It drowned him, and as I hadn’t got my camera, I had to borrow one and take the picture. Well done Richard Sherman, who is aged 10 and comes from Ipswich. A new personal best, and another carp in a new home.
So people, there are carp in the Gipping, and bread is the bait, so if you fancy a day out, set yourself up behind the Mazda or H.R.Owen garages on the west end road, and have yourself some fun. Oh, and by the way, yes I did catch some, but I don’t want to go into detail.
Oh all right, they were tiddlers, but so what, I’m trying aren’t I?
