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ABOUT US
OUR JOURNEY
As one of the best specialist carp fishing travel agents in the world, Carp Social’s beginnings date back to the early 1990’s when our founder Richard Huett first started his angling journey at the age of 4 years old on the banks of Wrights Lake in Essex.
Now with over 30 years carp angling experience, Carp Social are renowned for some of the best carp fishing holidays in the world, with many customers enjoying angling adventures abroad year after year – we’ve see PB’s smashed, BBQ’s lit, memories shared and anglers catch the carp of their dreams.
Richard’s own passion for angling adventure continues to see Carp Social grow, providing arguably one of the vastest and most desirable portfolio of venues available to the holiday carp angler today.
TIMELINE
1990
It all started with a young keen angler Richard Huett. His angling journey began at 4 years old during the early 1990’s float fishing for roach with his Dad on the banks of Wrights and Birketts Hall, part of the Rayleigh and District Angling club here in sunny Essex.
2000'S
At the grand age of 10 1/2 Richard recalls his first night fishing trip with his Dad to a local syndicate lake known as Century. He caught several carp including a 17lb 8oz mirror, 19lb 4oz common and PB of 25lb 4oz. These were large carp for the early 2000’s era and especially so considering Richard was only 10 1/2 years old! He was hooked!
School Holidays
School holidays inevitably involved fishing trips with David, his younger brother. One of the more notable trips was to The Carp Society ‘Carp School’ which was held at Horseshoe Lake situated in Lechlade Gloucestershire. The carp caught during the ‘Carp School’ event left a lasting impression and landed the brothers on the front cover of the Angling Times publication.
Teenage Years
During his teenage years Richard’s angling obsession evolved and he now spent the majority of his spare time carp fishing the local club lakes of Maldon Angling Society (M.A.S). Venues such a Bog Grove, Howells Lake and Totham Pit were frequent haunts and a new PB of 30lb 2oz was achieved, a fish known as ‘Willow’ which was unmistakably the largest carp in the lake at the time.
In later years Richard fished Marconi Angling Club (Three Lakes), Chigborough Fisheries and Weeley along with a number of syndicate lakes across Essex including Lake Lands, Limebrook, Braxted Park and Nowhere.
2007
Angling in the UK had been at the heart of his big fishing adventures to date. That all changed in 2007 when Richard’s Dad booked a lake exclusive family carp fishing holiday to Les Genets in France. Richard and his brother both went on to catch carp in excess of 40lbs during their first carp fishing holiday in France. They loved it!
Carp fishing holidays to a variety of venues across Europe continued in the years that followed. Richard caught French carp to 40lb and 50lb+ respectively, along with gaining a wealth of knowledge about carp fishing on the continent.
2017
In 2017 Richard joined a well known fishing brand and went on to work within the angling industry and angling trade for over half a decade. Despite a busy work life his love of catching big European carp didn’t stop.
2018
Around June 2018 a much loved carp fishing magazine ceased publication. With the increase in popularity of social media among anglers, Richard now recognised there was a gap in the market where anglers would once get their carp fishing news, latest rigs, catch reports, find carp fishing holiday venues and keep their ear to the carp fishing grapevine. Carp Social was born!
2019
In 2019 Richard then undertook a bailiff role at a recently revived Lofts Lake Syndicate, which is a 25 acre ex-gravel works located in Heybridge, Essex. It’s fair to say Carp Social took a back seat during this time as Richard was focused on building the fishery. Richard’s involvement helped re-brand the fishery, build the website and manage membership enquiries for the syndicate.
During this time he developed an amino rich feed bait which promoted healthy weight gains in the stock of resident carp. Lofts Lake had never produced a 40lber before and in a short space of time, by the Autumn of 2019, the lake contained three 40lb common carp! The skills and lessons learnt during this time period were invaluable and he gained a wealth of fishery management knowledge, bait making skills as well as an insight into the headaches and heartbreaks of fishery politics.
2019
Somewhere along the way Richard struck up a friendship with Gary Bayes the owner of Bayeswater Fisheries, NG Fisheries and partner in Lyons Drove Fishery. Gary is a former British Carp record holder and has an endless knowledge of fishery management. Richard attended a number of Gary’s netting jobs and fishery work across the UK, further adding to his knowledge of fishery management whilst learning on the fly.
2020
During 2020, due to COVID travel restrictions, European fishing was put on hold so Richard rekindled a UK angling campaign at a renowned days only no publicity ‘Estate Lake’ in Essex. The conclusion of this campaign resulted in a new UK PB common carp of 52lb 14oz.
2022
With COVID finally disappearing like a hairstop in long grass, yet another father and son fishing trip was booked to Europe in October 2022. Following this trip Richard now holds a European PB of 96lb 4oz, arguably one of the largest mirror carp caught by an English angler.
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The publication of these captures on social media went viral and prompted many people to contact Richard asking for advice about booking a carp fishing holiday in France and further afield. As a result Carp Social evolved. Today, as a specialist carp fishing travel agent, we put our efforts into helping anglers discover and book carp fishing holidays at some of the worlds best venues and to help anglers catch the carp of their dreams.
THAT'S WHY
WE'RE MAKING WAVES
We're on a mission to grow Carp Social into a network of like minded anglers with a drive for discovery and a passion for angling adventure. We want you to enjoy your carp fishing holidays at some of the worlds best venues and for you to catch the carp of your dreams.
MISSION
It is our mission to grow CarpSocial into a network of like minded anglers with a drive for discovery and a passion for angling adventure. We want you to enjoying your carp fishing holidays at some of the worlds best venues and for you to catch the carp of your dreams.
SUPPORTERS
A special mention to our friends and supporters at NG Fisheries, DS Fisheries, Blasford Hill, Bayeswater Fisheries, Lyons Drove Fishery, Lofts Lake, Golden Oaks Fishery, Halcyon Pool, Tol Pits, Mainline Baits, Ridge Monkey, M.A.S Maldon Angling Society, Lucy’s Bowl and more…
VISION
To be Europes fastest growing specialist carp fishing travel agent harnessing social and web to help anglers discover and book carp fishing holidays.