Kev bags Kempie’s!

Kev Hewitt has been in pursuit of the incredible Kempie’s Linear from Linear Manor Farm since earlier this year. He’s caught loads of other fish but so far the one he wanted had not put in an appearance – until last weekend. Well done Kev!

‘It was just another session on Manor, or was it? I had that vibe all week on the build up, that 6th sense that something special was going to happen. I had been fishing Manor on and off, at least two or three sessions a year since 2003.

Way back then there was a smaller head of fish but I remember catching a lovely linear at 27Lb from peg five on the road bank. When I showed the photos to the bailiff Chris Blunt he did not recognise the carp but it was a stunner for sure. A few years later my very good friend Cliff Kemp caught this linear at 31lb+ and it then became known as Kempie’s Linear. Fast forward a few years, 14 years to be precise and Kempie’s Linear is hovering around the upper forties mark.

Although I am not massive on recaptures, Kempies was over 20lb bigger and 14 years wiser than when we had last met and I really had the buzz for catching her. I had already racked up 36 carp from the venue in the past five nights which spanned over two sessions. Kempie’s was yet to be banked since September 2016. It was now the middle of May and I knew she would have to slip up at some point soon.

I remember being in a similar situation in 2004. Cut tail had not been caught since the previous September and I managed to bag her at 40lb+ on the third week of May after getting that feeling she was due out.

So here we are, third week of May 2017 and Kempie’s is due out. CC Moore had asked me to schedule in a couple of days filming and I just knew I had to be on Manor. Alex was camera man and we had planned to film for 48 hours from the Sunday morning. On the build up to the session I had pretty much told everyone that I was going to catch Kempie’s this weekend. James Armstrong had asked me to do a live feed on facebook at 7pm Sunday evening, a Q&A type thing and my reply was that I would go one better and go live with Kempie’s Linear on the bank.

I arrived the night before Alex, about 6pm and set up in the car park swim. There were shed loads of fish showing in front of the willow swim, exactly where they were showing in numbers the week before. So I headed round there to see when the chap was off with the hope of moving in after him but he was staying a few more days and I really didn’t blame him with the amount of fish in the area. So I set up in the car park swim, a swim where I had caught 33 carp about four weeks previous. Since that hit of fish the swim had hardly done a bite since. But now I was in there and thought I would give it the night and move the following day as a few people were due to pack up.

The spot I fished was completely clean, a lovely gravely spot which was a complete contrast to when I started my previous session in there. The spot was covered in short strands of weed, about 2 inches deep. But after catching 33 carp in three days from the spot, the fish had really polished the spot off. So I started off but putting about 25/30 spombs of bait out on the spot. The main bulk being Hemp with 10mm Live System boilies, sweetcorn and roasted peanut chops. Three Ronnie rigs were presented over the top with the super sharp and mega strong Cryogen Curve Shanx hooks in size 6. All three rigs were fished with a 12mm yellow Northern Special Hookbait.

I had a few fish during the night and Alex was down first thing in the morning, just in time to see me slip the net under a wonderful 31lb 6oz mirror. It was a great way to start the filming and the day just got better and better with bites coming every few hours.

We had put a facebook post out on the CC Moore page that we were going to do a live facebook feed for a Q&A at 7pm. We were just prepping for that when my right hand rod melted off at 6.40pm. I knew from the off it was a better fish and had the added pressure of having a camera in my face. As the fish came closer she rolled about 15 yards out and my heart skipped a beat as I could have sworn it was Kempie’s Linear. The second time I saw her I didn’t think it was that big and my heart returned to normal pace.

The water is crystal clear on Manor and the margins are deep. The fish plodded around under the tip and I could see it was a nice scaly one and now estimated it to be a low thirty, perhaps the Hardwick Linear. I calmly slipped her into the net with no dramas. I pulled the net back towards me and peered down to be greeted with a carp of epic proportions. It was so wide across the shoulders and at first I felt it just couldn’t be Kempie’s. I was in a state of disbelief even though deep down I knew it was her.

I rolled her over to check her flank and that was the exact moment that I realised that this was real and it had actually happened. I had Kempie’s Linear in the net and it looked huge. It was now 6.50pm and we were due to do a live feed in 10 minutes! Alex said about cancelling it but in the end we decided to go live and show everyone what a magnificent creature Kempie’s is. Tom Maker was over on St.Johns and was straight round to assist with the weighing and filming the live feed.

The needle settled on a pleasing 48lb 4oz! I was lost for words and the next few minutes were all a blur. I gave her one last cuddle in the lake before letting her go back to her watery home. It was the fish of my dreams and it was all captured by Alex on camera! I really cannot wait to see the final edit.

I went on to bag a number of other fish including some incredible carp. It was the perfect way to sign off from Manor and say goodbye to what is without doubt my favourite lake in the country. I haven’t decided on where my next adventure will take me but I sure you will be hearing about it soon’.