490lb 80z's in 5 Hours
Rolfslake, Oxfordshire, England, 25th September 2005. Gary Thorpe sets a new World 5 hour match record with an incredible 490lb 8oz's - the catch included 62 prime Carp; that's a Carp landed every 260 seconds; and they averaged 9lb each! Gary Thorpe and the GOT Baits matchmen have long been the favorites to break the World 5 hour match record. Why?
Rolfslake has long been acknowledged by many as the venue that would set a new World Record. The lake owner, Rolf, has built up a fishery that has set some of the biggest weights witnessed on the UK open match circuit. Fellow GOT Baits founder, Trevor Price, had already recorded a 401lb weight that was just 16lb behind the previous record. Rolf had taken the decision to allow one type of pellet at his venue following excess oils and other unwanted products entering his lake via cheaper bulk pellets. Over the coming months the lake weights continued to grow with a handful of 300lb plus match wins recorded. The number of 200lb plus weights eclipsed even the most optimistic matchmen.
Desperate to post a new record, Gary Thorpe and Trevor Price forged a friendship forged from the drive to achieve an ultimate goal. The matchmen spend years targeting Rolfslake as the venue to produce their ambition, and developed a Paste that was head and shoulders above anything else available and continued to developed pellet additives to give them the edge. Producing a bait of exacting quality time and time again was proving a huge challenge! Consequently, GOT Baits was born both as a brand and the consequent group of top Matchmen fishing under the banner of GOT Baits.
Armed with the GOT Baits products the 'G.O.T' Match Anglers recorded an outstanding string of match wins, these included a hat full of new Venue records. A flurry of articles from Top Match Angling Magazines where dressed with the GOT Anglers, their baits and methods. Over a number of months the GOT Baits product was setting a new standard in commercial match fishing.
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Off with the Gloves!
Rolf had lifted a few of the lake rules to allow all fish to be put into nets and had also lifted the floating baits ban in an attempt to allow anglers an increased chance to shatter the World record. Rolf has a catch, weigh and release policy for all fish over 8lb but will lift this ban about 10 times a year. Tickets for these matches go like hot cakes. The gloves were off, but would the right angler draw the right peg?
Armed with the new 4mm Soft Hooker Pellet, 15 pints of 4mm feed pellet, Paste, a few cubes of meat and a few pints of 6mm Expander pellet, Gary had drawn Peg 19 at Rolfslake on the morning of the 25th September 2005 and set about destroying the standing World Record of 417lb 12oz his eventual total went 490lb 8oz.
Gary started by trying to catch a few fish on the floaters early on and tells his own story:
"I did have a decent Carp early on the floater but the line was too slow. A look at 8m resulted in some foul hooked fish and to be honest the start was far from perfect. I fed again and carried on letting the line settle with a look down the inside. I had one more decent Carp on the floater before I switched back to my main 8m line.
"I took 25 fish over Double figures and I guess the biggest was about 15lb"
This time the line was solid with feeding fish. It was a case of spending the next 4 hours keeping fish coming quickly. Keeping a cool head and not thinking about the record was paramount. It was a case of a fish-a-chuck from here on in, feed and try not to foul hook any fish. I did have a few hiccups with a few trashed rigs on the odd zoo creature, but the fish just kept coming up to the final whistle.
I took 25 fish over double figures and I guess the biggest fish was about 15lb, I'm not sure? but I know I took 62 fish in total. I'm pleased to have broken the record. Having recently had a similar day ruined by dropping a keep net in to the lake as the scales came round, I was starting to think the record was going to come my way"
"If the bites slowed down I would change to a 6mm expander on the hook, I even took a few fish on a single cube of meat, although the 4mm pellet seemed to give the fish that extra confidence. We have worked hard to produce this pellet at GOT Baits and I knew it would produce some huge weights, but not as soon as this."
Gary Thorpe |
