13 of the greatest carp angling rumours ever
From netting lakes for TV shows to Ian Poole getting a dead hand, here's some of the best stuff that's been made up on the bank
1. Alligators on the loose at Waveney Valley Lakes
A couple of years ago there were reports of two alligators being spotted at the world famous Waveney Valley Lakes in Norfolk. Police made investigations, The Sun newspaper ran a story and it even made the local TV news. Turns out it was two pieces of driftwood...
2. John Wilson netting
Apparently the TV star had a private, no-publicity venue netted so the entire lake’s stock was held in one small corner of the lake. What the rumour mongers hadn’t taken into account was the lake is 60-acres and has eight islands (read: it’s impossible to net).
3. JRC Bedchairs
Remember when Terry Hearn collaborated with JRC in the earlier Noughties? The first bedchair they produced under his name featured shorter than normal length legs. According to ‘tackle shop talk’ this wasn’t because Terry liked a low-to-the-ground bedchair and requested them, but because the Chinese have shorter legs than us Europeans!
4. Dave Lane
“Loads,” was how Laney responded when we asked him if he’d heard any good rumours about himself. “That I’ve caught fifties from waters I’ve never even heard of; that I’m poaching three different lakes at once and Adam Penning and I had a big punch up over at Linear fisheries last year, despite the fact that I haven’t been there for at least three years.”
5. Adam Penning
Talking of Penners, we heard he took a machete and an Uzi to a carp show to dispense some pain. Totally untrue of course.
6. Pins and needles
During a trip to Wellington Country Park, Ian Poole got pins and needles in his hand and couldn’t strike the rod and got a certain Mr. Renyard to hit the rod and play the fish for him.
7. Keith Jenkins
“I was once told that I’d been fishing a lake in Stoke with Chilly and Laney and that I’d caught a 50lb+ mirror. Stoke. I’m still waiting for someone to send me the photos of that one.”
8. Bluetooth transmitter
During his stay on a water where everyone was a tad cagey about revealing their catch results, Danny Fairbrass got an electrician to install a Bluetooth transmitter into his buzzer heads and then had an earpiece as the sounder box. That way, no one knew when he’d had a bite.
9. Lee Jackson
In his spare time is an Elvis impersonator.
10. Super tight
That Rob Hughes is as tight as Simon Crow. As Hughesy said, “Anyone that knows him will appreciate that, quite simply, it would be impossible.”
11. Man love
Sources state that Iain Macmillan was caught shagging Danny Fairbrass in his bivvy at Gigantica. This is of course, rubbish.
12. Kevin Nash
“Managing to split myself in three!” laughed Nashy.
“The story goes I was in three separate countries at the same time, drunk and fighting a geezer on a lake. Where do people get this stuff from?!”
13. A pair of Ferraris
More on Fairbrass. A while back there were rumours abound on some of the forums that he’d bought a pair of matching Ferrari’s. We can confirm that he still drives a clapped-out old Vito van.