(2005) Well, it's not exactly every day you get to fish in one of Queen Elizabeth's parks, but nonetheless, my son, Emil, caught two carp in Bushy Park in London. Emil and I were visiting our good friend, Nigel Botherway, who has lived near this park all his life, and who himself caught his first fish on a rod right there when he was just 5 years old.
Bushy Park is one of the English Queen's many parks, and the park has belonged to the English royal family all the way back to King Henry VIII (the king who beheaded his wives), who lived in the famous Hampton Court Palace. The park was then primarily used for hunting by the royal family and its guests. The deer that live in the park today are direct descendants of that time. During World War II, General Eisenhover used the park for his forces that were to participate in D-Day.
In the park there are three lakes, which are "born" of the Longford River, which is a tributary of the Thames. One lake is called The Diana, which is an artificial and completely round ornamental lake, but has nevertheless produced carp to 18 kg, a myriad of large bream, pike, roach and tench. The other two lakes are natural, and they are both named after their shape: The Heron and The Leg of Mutton. Here you will find carp, grass carp, crucians and lots of eels. Over the years, Nigel has caught many fish in the park, the largest of which was a 14½ kg mirror carp.
Actually, the plan was for me to fish for the big bream, but when Emil was with us, we agreed to concentrate on him, instead. We sat ourselves at The Leg of Mutton, and cast out two rods with micro-boilies, and loose fed with sweet corn. It did not take long before there were bubbles and rolling small carp over the baits, but it seemed as if they were too shy to take the hook bait.
While waiting, we studied the crown deer, gray squirrels, parakeets and woodpeckers for an hour before anything happened. We used relatively light gear, so the carp took off with a squealing brake as a result. Just to start with, Emil was not much for taking the rod, he was probably nervous about being pulled into the water, but with Nigel's calm guidance, he managed to fight the carp to the net. In the net we had a feisty common carp of about 2½ kg.
Now suddenly there was no restraint, so when the next fish took the bait, Emil himself would fight it in, with some effort and difficulty; another 2½ kg common carp, a brilliantly proud kid, and great photographs.
