A MONTH FULL OF MASSIVE CATCHES!
Two possible future British record contenders banked in remarkable few weeks
WEST YORKSHIRE has joined the growing number of counties to produce carp over 60lb following the capture of a 61lb 2oz giant.
The new county record – a fish known as 3 Scale – was banked from Eric’s Willows Lake by Paul Owens, a regular visitor to the 25-acre dayticket water, not far from Leeds.
It’s the first time that 3 Scale has topped the 60lb mark, and its capture comes in an incredible month for carp anglers, with more 40s and 50s having been landed since spring than in the corresponding period of any year in
carp angling history.
Only last month another potential contender for the record was caught at 64lb 8oz from Cambridgeshire mega water Grenville, leading many to believe that the British best of 68lb 1oz, landed by Dean Fletcher in 2016 from Cranwell’s Lake on Berkshire’s Wasing Estate, could well be toppled in 2019.
With there now being 50lb-plus carp in more English counties than not, the list of potential titletoppling venues continues to grow.
Among the other likely challengers to the crown are Wellington Country Park (which has produced fish over 60lb and holds around a dozen ‘fifties’), The Avenue in Shropshire, and Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire. The last two named on this list have both produced fish in excess of the record, although these have not been officially ratified by the British Record Fish Committee (BRFC) due to ‘technicalities’.
However, many people’s best bet for the title remains Grenville Lake, which at the last count held a staggering 380 fish over 30lb, 98 fish over 40lb, seven over 50lb and two over 60lb!
Turn to page 46 to read Dick Walker’s 1975 forecast for how big British carp would grow. It’s eye-opening!