We Need To Talk About... The Carp Record!
"I vividly remember the shockwaves of Chris Yates catching his 51lb 6oz record mirror from Redmire in 1980, and the amazement I felt in 1996, gazing at the photo of Terry Hearn with Wraysbury’s Mary at 55lb 13oz."
The official carp record is currently The Parrot at 68lb 1oz, caught by Dean Fletcher in January 2016 from Berkshire’s Wasing Estate. However, it’s not the largest carp ever caught in the UK. That honour falls to an apparently spawn-bound fish known as The Big Plated from Wingham syndicate in Kent that was not submitted to the record committee, but weighed in at an eye-watering 83lb 4oz in 2017. Several other fish have broken the seventy-pound barrier, one called Big Rig at 71lb 4oz from RH Fisheries and at least one other from Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire at over 75lb. So, why have they not been recognised as new records?
The British Record Fish Committee look at the merits of every submission, but their comments on the rejection of recent contenders include that the growth rate would not be sustainable in a naturally fed fishery where the only additional food source is angler’s bait, and in another instance that the fish had been artificially reared to near record weight before stocking.
These decisions have inevitably caused much grief, anger, relief, some reprehensible behaviour and a fair degree of soul searching in the carping world, as we contemplated the meaning, relevance and validity of the once treasured UK carp record.
Of course, carp are not indigenous to the UK. They have long been bred and stocked. Strains have been meticulously cultured and selected for their size, appearance, vitality and longevity over many decades. This tradition, combined with the extraordinary increase in popularity of carp fishing over the last forty years has led to a proliferation of carp waters and fuelled the desire for ever bigger carp. There are now many exceptional lakes and complexes where the carp are stocked at high weights and continue to be fed pellets after their release, as people clammer for fifties, sixties and now seventies. There is nothing wrong with this; it’s not illegal or contrary to any written rules. But to the purists it rather muddies the water on traditional notions of what counts as a record carp.
One solution to this conundrum would be to adopt the position that any record carp caught by ‘fair means’ on rod and line counts, because it is literally the largest carp ever caught in the UK. But this tips many over the edge, into a pit of despair. They view the current trend for commercially developed super carp as morally bankrupt, proof that we’ve lost sight of what the record carp should be: a pinnacle of angling achievement. That catching one of these commercial fishery giants is just buying a winning ticket in a lucky dip tombola.
Some see it as a move towards the fiendish world of Frankenstein fish, akin to the extreme horticultural obsession of growing giant vegetables; the piscine equivalent of growing portly pumpkins, monstrous marrows and colossal carrots. Others take the view that it’s cheating, tantamount to doping in athletics, to cyclists injecting EPO to extend the limits of what is possible. I think that’s taking the argument a step too far, but it demonstrates that emotions run high when discussing the carp record these days.
It’s all rather confusing, but what is clear is that we have a tricky dilemma. There’s no turning back the clock. We wanted bigger carp and the carp fishing industry provided them. The age of the mega carp—genetically engineered and raised for maximum size—is here to stay. So, what to do? If we can’t agree on what is and what is not a legitimate record fish, should we consign the whole concept to Room 101, to the backwaters of carping history, a quaint notion that only had relevance in a simpler, less commercial era?
Maybe, and maybe not. You see, I have a cunning plan. Perhaps, like the boxing world where there are multiple world champions, there’s room for two UK carp records. In one category—let’s call it the ‘Super-Size Me’ or ‘Go Large’ category—anything goes. The fish can be hand reared in a fish farm, kept in optimised conditions, fed day and night, grown to monster proportions before being stocked and continued to be pellet fed. And another, the Organic or Old Skool category, where the fish must be stocked small and grow to record busting proportions on naturals and angler’s bait. What do you think?
Perhaps I’m naïve; perhaps nobody cares anymore; perhaps the record carp is an obsolete gold standard of angling achievement. But if we adopted a dual record system, both would be recognised, and individuals could decide which to admire and covet, or appreciate both for their respective merits. There will be those who enjoy angling for a colossal record carp no matter how it was reared, and others who choose to search for a more traditional carp of record proportions.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter, it’s just fishing, you can angle for whatever you want. Nah, just kidding, of course it matters! Give me an old skool, organic bloodworm, snail and boilie-eating record carp every time!
