Schoolgirl angler's amazing catch
AT 12 years old, Kara Bridges is already hooked on fishing - and now she has landed a catch that most anglers can only dream of. The schoolgirl netted a mirror carp weighing an incredible 62lb 10oz on a fishing trip with her father to France.
By John Howard
AT 12 years old, Kara Bridges is already hooked on fishing - and now she has landed a catch that most anglers can only dream of.
The schoolgirl netted a mirror carp weighing an incredible 62lb 10oz on a fishing trip with her father to France.
The huge fish, which took 20 minutes to land, would sell on the open market for up to £10,000.
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Bacton Middle School pupil Kara, from Cotton, near Stowmarket, was all smiles after landing the fish in a valley lake surrounded by woodland 15 miles from Paris.
She posed for a picture to record the amazing catch before releasing the fish back into the waters.
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“I was really excited, at first I thought it was a tiny fish, but when dad picked him up in the net he nearly collapsed,” she said.
“It was a whopper, I was really happy, I thought, what have I done? I had a huge smile on my face.
“I have told my best friends at school. I will try and get even bigger ones now - my dad is helping me learn about it all. It is not a long fish, but really deep. It was a really big one.”
Proud father Keith Bridges, an HGV driver who has been taking his daughter carp fishing for five years after his father introduced him to the sport, said: “It took Kara about 20 minutes to land, and she had a big smile on her face afterwards.
“Her fish was weighed and verified by the French, it is a very big fish, although not a world record.
“But because of her age, and because she is a girl, I would not have thought anyone else would have achieved this and I did not assist her at all playing the fish.”
He added: “I am amazed at her achievement and very proud of her, definitely. I have taken part in competitions but she has now caught a bigger fish than her dad now, which she keeps reminding me about.
“My dad took me fishing, the same as I do with Kara. It has been a lifelong passion for me. Kara is really dedicated to it and she knows an awful lot. We go fishing all the time.”
Mr Bridges said he hoped his daughter will take up the sport professionally later in life, making a living from her hobby.
Locally a carp was caught in the River Gipping in Ipswich a few years ago, weighing in at 46lb 4oz, and the same lake in France where Kara caught her fish has yielded a 70lb fish, said Mr Bridges.
