UK carp record smashed... captor won’t put in a claim but

Captor of massive mirror says he won’t submit fish due to ‘rigmarole’ of process

“For me the catch of a UK 70lb carp is more than enough and it’s just great to see that fish

of this calibre can be caught in the UK”

ACARP eclipsing the current UK record of 68lb 1oz has been banked, but its captor will not be submitting a claim, Angling Times can reveal.

Martyn Lowe (46) slipped his net under the huge mirror weighing 71lb during a two-day session at Cambridgeshire’s Holme Fen Fishery.

However, he revealed that he has been deterred from potentially taking his place in the record books following the rejection last year of another huge Holme Fen mirror by the British Record Fish Committee (BRFC) on the grounds that it was stocked into the lake at too high a weight.

Although Martyn’s fish was stocked at a much lower weight, and would stand a strong chance of being accepted as the new bona fide record, he has chosen to stay out of the limelight.

Martyn said: “For me, catching a UK 70lb-plus carp is more than enough, and it’s just great to see that fish of this calibre can be caught in the UK.

“I know other ‘British recordbeating’ fish have been banked from Holme Fen in the past but rejected, so I just thought it wasn’t worth going through the rigmarole of submitting a claim with the possibility of the same happening again.”

Martyn was alluding to the BRFC’s decision in late 2018 to reject the credentials of the Holme Fen mirror known as Captain Jack, which was caught by Vinny Parker at 69lb 10oz in September 2018.

One of the contributing factors to the rejection was the fact that the fish was imported from Israel and stocked into the fishery at a weight of 41lb. The case is different with Martyn’s catch however, as he explained…

“Martin Dawson, who is the owner of Holme Fen, informed me that my fish was stocked into the fishery at a weight of 15lb 8oz in 2013, so I guess there is a chance it could been accepted, but I’ve still decided it’s not worth it. I’ve had a British 70 and I’m just really pleased with that.”

In November 2018 the BRFC released a statement highlighting all of the factors that are considered when judging a record carp. These include the weight of the fish when stocked into the water from which it was caught, the length of time the fish has been in the water of capture since its stocking

and whether the fish reached the weight with the help of supplementary feeding by the fishery owner.

Nick Simmonds, Secretary of the BRFC, said: “Any captor wishing to submit a claim for a

potential record carp may do so and the committee will consider each claim on its own merit under certain factors.

“Martyn has chosen not to submit a claim this time, but if he was to change his mind then the fish will be judged fairly and on its own merits.”

As things stand, Dean Fletcher’s 2016 capture of The Parrot from Cranwell Lake on the Wasing estate at 68lb 1oz remains the official British record.