Elusive marriage-wrecking fish carps it
By London correspondent Rachael Brown
Gone, but not forgotten: An angler holds Two Tone
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A giant carp that eluded fishermen in Britain for decades has been found dead.
The mirror carp, called 'Two Tone' was nicknamed "the marriage wrecker" and was blamed for the breakdown of four marriages as anglers devoted years to its capture.
The 45-year-old fish was found floating in Conningbrook Lake in Kent, south-east of London, and is believed to have died of old age.
Anglers across Britain are sending in tributes to the fish, which will be given a funeral next to the lake on Sunday.
Two Tone set a new record weight for a British carp when it was caught in 2001 and was caught another six times in the next seven years, with its weight peaking at 67 pounds (30kg) on capture in 2008.
"A couple of anglers called to say they'd seen a big carp floating dead on the surface which they thought might be Two Tone, so my son and I went straight over to investigate. Sure enough it was the old boy - I was gutted," Conningbrook fisheries manager Chris Logsdon told Britain's Angling Times magazine.
"He'd had a hard winter followed by a tough spring, but there wasn't a blemish on him - no scars, ulcers or any other sign of damage. He was just old.
"It's very sad, the end of an era, because Two Tone was part of carp fishing history. He was stocked into the lake at 12 pounds in 1982 and no English fish came close to toppling his record from 2001 onwards."
By London correspondent Rachael Brown
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!-- if (typeof showPhotos == 'function') showPhotos('2985901-mediarss.xml'); --></SCRIPT>
A giant carp that eluded fishermen in Britain for decades has been found dead.
The mirror carp, called 'Two Tone' was nicknamed "the marriage wrecker" and was blamed for the breakdown of four marriages as anglers devoted years to its capture.
The 45-year-old fish was found floating in Conningbrook Lake in Kent, south-east of London, and is believed to have died of old age.
Anglers across Britain are sending in tributes to the fish, which will be given a funeral next to the lake on Sunday.
Two Tone set a new record weight for a British carp when it was caught in 2001 and was caught another six times in the next seven years, with its weight peaking at 67 pounds (30kg) on capture in 2008.
"A couple of anglers called to say they'd seen a big carp floating dead on the surface which they thought might be Two Tone, so my son and I went straight over to investigate. Sure enough it was the old boy - I was gutted," Conningbrook fisheries manager Chris Logsdon told Britain's Angling Times magazine.
"He'd had a hard winter followed by a tough spring, but there wasn't a blemish on him - no scars, ulcers or any other sign of damage. He was just old.
"It's very sad, the end of an era, because Two Tone was part of carp fishing history. He was stocked into the lake at 12 pounds in 1982 and no English fish came close to toppling his record from 2001 onwards."