HARWICH Angling Club held their 36-hour carp marathon match on Bradfield Lake.

With the club’s specialist anglers turning up, they were all keen to set up their bivys in preparation for the task ahead.

It was agreed the match would be held under the catch, weigh and release approach, so as not to have carp in keep nets for long periods.

The match started at 7pm on Friday and during the first night, not only did the anglers have to contend with heavy rain, thunder and lightning but also not landing any catches. The first catch was not until Saturday morning, at 7.30am, by Richard Harfield.

He landed a common carp, weighing in at 12lbs 2ozs.

The rest of Saturday remained quiet until Harfield again hooked into another common carp of 12lbs 13ozs at 8.30pm.

Although the weather was kinder to the anglers during Saturday night, there were no more fish caught.

With the match close to ending at 7am on Sunday, junior member Liam Willis had a good firm take and landed a ghost carp weighing 6lbs.

When the match ended, Harfield was declared the winner with a total weight of 24lbs 15ozs.

Willis was the runner-up, with 6lbs.

With only three carp – all in excellent condition – being landed, everyone enjoyed the match and gained more knowledge and experience about the lake for future trips.