66 Years Ago Today

[Peter Jacobs]

Sixty six years ago today a certain Mr **** Walker hooked and landed a fish that broke the then Carp record and so began the huge changes in how we fish for Carp.

**** himself named the fish 'Raviolli' as that was what he and his fishing mate had eaten the night before, with the name being changed to 'Clarissa' later when it resided in London Zoo.

 

[flightliner]

An amazing capture for sure Peter.I was only a young boy at the time but I remember looking at the picture in the paper at my angling mad uncles house and found it hard to believe that a fish so big could be alive and kicking in an English stillwater.

 

[steve2]

I wonder what would have happen if that carp had picked up the bait of Peter Thomas. It was only luck that it didn't they were fishing with the same baits were only a few feet apart.

 

[108831]

I can't tell you how many times I went to the aquarium in Regents Park and sat looking at clarissa and the other lesser carp with wide eyes,amazing that someone actually caught the fish on rod and line,because let's not forget,we were all told carp were uncatchable...

 

[barbelboi]

I wonder what would have happen if that carp had picked up the bait of Peter Thomas. It was only luck that it didn't they were fishing with the same baits were only a few feet apart.

Then that would have denied Pete the chance of netting Ravioli from the roots waist deep in the water in his underkecks.................

 

[S-Kippy]

I wonder how many of today's bivvie dwelling gnomes even know who **** Walker was ? I deliberately did not use the term carp angler as they are quite different.

 

[Mark Wintle]

And if Bob Richards had kept quiet about his catch.....

 

[barbelboi]

Yes, funny old world Mark. If BR hadn't bumped into BB Walker would never have stuffed his fish and had the chance to 'interrogate' him................

 

[Tee-Cee]

Happy days....................

I went to Redmire just the once. Never forgotten it. Might sound silly to some, but it was a dream realised..

 

[Philip]

Possibly the most significant freshwater angling catch anywhere worldwide ?

The iconic angler of the time catching the iconic fish and it basically started the specimen scene as we know it. Make no mistake, the UK leads the way for specialist angling and the rest follow so the reprecussions of that capture are felt far beyond the shores of just blightey.

 

[tigger]

Sixty six years ago today a certain Mr **** Walker hooked and landed a fish that broke the then Carp record and so began the huge changes in how we fish for Carp.

**** himself named the fish 'Raviolli' as that was what he and his fishing mate had eaten the night before, with the name being changed to 'Clarissa' later when it resided in London Zoo.

Interesting Peter, I never knew that Clarrisa was called anything other than Clarissa!

 

[thecrow]

I saw her just the once, iirc there was a Pike of around 12lbs in with her.

 

[Philip]

Interesting Peter, I never knew that Clarrisa was called anything other than Clarissa!

In that case you probably didnt know then that it didnt weigh 44lbs when he caught it either.

:behindsofa:

 

[binka]

The only downside to the whole story was the transferal from the fish's natural habitat to a London zoo.

I never could get my head around that, moving a fish from where it had once thrived and grown to such a size but I guess it was a 'commercial' decision where there were upsides such as regular and good food.

Still not sure a tank outweighed the negatives of natural freedom though.

Does anyone know who's decision it was to presumably 'sell' the fish and what sums of money were involved?

 

[Peter Jacobs]

As I understand it Steve, in those days to claim the record you had to kill the fish as proof.

Walker was loathe to kill the fish so keeping it alive was the next best option. I was not aware of any commercial interest. In fact he never took a penny for any AT article either so making money was not top of his list.

 

[terry m]

I never saw the fish ‘live’, but it was legendary back in the 70’s in carp angling circles. Back then a 20lb fish was newsworthy. Ironic that today a 44lb fish would not be a big story.

 

[108831]

I never saw the fish ‘live’, but it was legendary back in the 70’s in carp angling circles. Back then a 20lb fish was newsworthy. Ironic that today a 44lb fish would not be a big story.

Very true Terry,but Clarissa was responsible for the illegal spread of carp around the country by wannabes,so lead to high protein baits and official stocking of fast growing carp,I mean to say Redmire fish didn't get big on potatoes,sweetcorn etc,they got big on natural food.

 

[theartist]

I wonder how many of today's bivvie dwelling gnomes even know who **** Walker was ?

I was going to disagree but have just typed 'Clarissa Redmire' into ebay and there's only 3 results in all categories,'Ravioli Carp' gets just 2 which is shocking and i'm responsible for most of them lol. There's a cracking John Searl print but the seller has spelt his name wrong which isn't ideal when you see how much it's up for

 

[bullet]

Just goes to show ****'s dedication if he was prepared to sustain himself on tinned Ravioli....shudder!

 

[S-Kippy]

Was it this fish that started the whole "naming" of individual fish lark....which I personally find extraordinarily tedious ?