FIFTEEN thousand fishermen converged on Brentwood for the biggest carp show in the country.
The Brentwood Centre, in Doddinghurst Road, hosted the annual angling extravaganza on Saturday and Sunday.
Paul Gay, 45, is a council worker but was giving up his weekend to work at the fishing enthusiasts' event.
"I couldn't imagine life without fishing," he told the Gazette.
"Everybody's different but the reason I love it is because it's the ones you can't catch that keep you going back again."
Mr Gay's three-year-old son Daniel is also keen on carp fishing.
"He loves it," said Mr Gay.
"I lived in France for two years so he was brought up next to a fishing lake.
"He says, 'I want fish!'"
Hundreds of stallholders from all over the UK gathered at the venue to offer the latest in carp-fishing equipment including rods, nets, camping gear and baits.
David Greenland from Chelmsford runs Just Carping, a retail outlet for the international company Starbaits.
The 39-year-old said that the heaviest carp he has caught weighed 70lb.
"You just kiss it and put it back," he said.
"Carp are big, they are supposed to be beautiful – and everybody wants to catch them.
"The thing is they could be 40 years old and they are very wily. "People think it's like a hunter, cavemannish thing to do.
"We like the Brentwood show because it's central and people come from pretty much everywhere."
Coach loads came from as far away as Manchester for the event, but locals were also making the most of it being on their doorstep.
Sean Eady, 32, from South Ockendon, joined his friends Glynn Bray and Adam Newton for a day out at the show.
He said: "We don't usually get to see a show, so it's a chance for us to catch up as well.
"We fish all over Essex and abroad."
Chris Ives, 27, from Brentwood, also came to the show with friends "just to get cheap gear, really".
Along with his brother, Tim, and their friends, Chris goes to France once a year, where the carp are generally bigger due to the warmer weather, which means they can feed for more of the year.
But while the majority of shoppers were male – "There's probably for every 300 men one woman," said Mr Gay – Faye Clay was there with her son Max and two of his friends.
"We usually all go together," she said.
"I love it. It's so relaxing – and I concentrate on setting all of their rods up really."
Max's friend Harvey O'Sullivan, nine, once caught a 22lb carp – his heaviest yet.
He said: "I enjoy it because it means we can catch big fish and because it's dangerous."
