‘Monster’ in Pond

We have a rather unique collection item here at Egham Museum. This is the story of one local man’s unique fishing achievement.

In September 1947, Jack Williams, motor engineer of Norlands Lane, Thorpe, caught one of the biggest common carp ever caught in the British Isles at the time.

This ‘monster’ of a fish weighed an impressive 19lb 4oz, caught in a gravel pit belonging to Eastwood- Longside just off Ten Acre Lane, Thorpe.

Using bread paste for bait, a light tackle and only a 6lb line, it took 45 minutes for Jack Williams and with the help of his father-in-law, Albert Bull, to land the fish. The tubular handle of the net used to catch the fish was bent double under the 19lb 4oz weight of the catch! It was later taken to Virginia Water Station and weighed.

The only press coverage of Jack William’s fishing achievement was reported in the Daily Mirror on the 1st October 1947, by A. Greated who lived at No.5, The Crescent, Egham at the time. The article was titled: ‘CAUGHT ‘MONSTER’ IN POND’. Jack Williams left home that day, telling his wife that he would “try to get a fish for lunch.” In the excitement of this ‘monster’ catch, Jack Williams and his family had forgotten to eat the fish! This 19lb 4oz fish caused quite a stir as Jack Williams described that the whole village wanted to see it.

Specialised carp fishing did not become popular until the late 1950s, before then, fish weighing 20lb or more were thought to be impossible to catch. Nowadays, the record for the biggest common carp caught in Britain weighs in at 64lb 6oz held by Chris Caddick from Kingswinford, West Midlands.

In this collection we have the original fishing rod and net used to catch the common carp and Jack William’s fishing bag, seen in the picture in the Daily Mirror article. Perhaps the most bizarre item of this collection is a life size plaster cast of the common carp caught by Jack Williams, illustrating the size of the fish and immortalising his impressive achievement.