A Surprise Capture of a 60lb Unknown Resident at Roseau

During week commencing 20^th April I was woken up to the news of a fish on the bank at Roseauof over 60lb, as you can imagine I was very surprised but even more surprised to hear that the lucky angler didn’t know what species it was.

Knowing the only fish in excess of 60lb is the one and only Catfish that resides in the Large lake, I was expecting to see the large whiskers of the giant tadpole on my arrival to the swim. However, I’m sure most, if not all anglers have heard and know what a Catfish looks like so my mind started working overtime and thoughts turned to a large Grass Carp as I wandered the long banks in anticipation of what I was about to see.

60.04

Walking into the swim it was very clear that all the lads present were equally confused by the creature that laid in the floatation sling.

Together we prepared the weighing equipment and hoisted the fish onto the waiting mats, as the folds of the sling parted my first reaction was “that’s a huge Grassy” but as the head was exposed I was completely thrown by it, the weight was confirmed by myself at 60lb 04oz, pictures were taken before the fish was released back to its watery home.

60.04

I returned to the lodge and immediately open the computer to see if I could find out exactly what species it was, after a good hour or so I came to the conclusion that it was a Bighead Carp, I emailed Angling Lines to notify them of the capture and reports came back that it was actually stocked around some 10 years ago, it would be interesting to find out the weight of which it was stocked because Bighead Carp are plankton feeders and I’m sure it wasn’t stocked at such a large weight. Bighead Carp have an under slung bottom lip which makes them very difficult to catch, this is its first capture in my four years being at Roseau Carp so who knows how big this fish will actually go!

After having the time to digest it, it actually doesn’t surprise me that such a large fish was swimming around the depths of the large lake and avoiding capture, during my time here I’ve seen some very big Carp which have yet to grace the banks, how many more surprises does this awesome complex hold!!!

Until next time…

Tight Lines
Roy

For more information, photos, videos and feedback from Roseau follow the link – Fishing France