The end of the Horton season was an eventful and successful one for top carper, Jim Shelley.

Jim was concentrating on the Sutton Syndicate but having landed a 22lb common and lost a couple of fish he pulled off when the venue started to get a little busy.


Jim Shelley and ‘Shoulders’ at 45lb 2oz
RIP Corner
Jim headed instead off for a three-day session on the Church Lake at Horton and arrived on the venue late evening as a good south-westerly was pushing down the lake. Shortly before dark Jim observed a large shoal of fry scattering at the lodge end of the lake and as he went to take a closer look a carp jumped close in to the RIP corner over a known gravel hump.

Jim managed to get a bed of Dynamite Baits Frenzied Hemp and a couple of Tutti Frutti pop-ups out before it got dark but it was not until the following evening when a single bleep signalled a take and Jim netted a mirror of 26lb.

Shoulders
With the rods back out on the marks Jim had another take at 3.45am and straight away knew it was a better fish. After five minutes Jim knew it was not only a better fish but that it was exactly the same sort of fight that he had experienced at Horton twice before this season…

His thoughts were confirmed when he netted the fish after an 18 minute fight and saw that it was indeed Shoulders, his third capture of the fish in a season! The fish weighed in at a new top weight of 45lb 2oz.

Jim finished his session on Horton with a 22lb mirror the following evening

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