Chalgrove carper Jason Smith has been targeting a large mirror in a private Oxfordshire pit for the last five years after a friend of his landed it and Jason took the photos.

The monster mirror carp in question is known as “The Hamster” and Jason’s long wait came to an end recently when he caught it weighing 47.4.0 Jason arrived at the water and spotted several fish rolling in a couple of swims, but instead of picking one of these, he chose another purely because the big fish had never been caught from there before at this time of year.

He planned to stay for three days and two nights, but was soon rewarded with his prize just six hours after casting out.

The fish is the biggest resident in the lake and was caught on a Solar 10mm critically balanced bait on a reverse combi rig with a three ounce running lead set up over a bed of groundbait and pellet.