Schoolboy lands Britain’s biggest carp - will it be a new record?

73lb 8oz Holme Fen giant could take current British record

THE COUNTRY’S biggest carp has been banked this week weighing a colossal 73lb 8oz, more than 5lb heavier than the current British best.

Fourteen-year-old Jensen Price caught the huge mirror, a fish known as ‘Marshall’, from The Meadows Lake on the Holme Fen complex in Cambridgeshire.

Joining his father Darren for a night at the end of a week-long trip to the popular big fish venue, it took just 24 hours for him to hook the giant, becoming the envy of big carp anglers nationwide in the process.

Jensen described the moment he first clapped eyes on his heavyweight prize: “I saw it come up on its side on the surface and I thought my eyes were messing with me,” he said.

Despite already being an accomplished angler at such a young age, the fish shatters what was already an impressive 51lb personal best for the youngster.

“It was nothing like I’d ever seen before – I didn’t think it was real,” he added.

Proud dad Darren, who has previously caught another of Holme Fen’s giants, the huge mirror known as Captain Jack, said he couldn’t believe his eyes either when, returning from a bathroom break, he saw his son had a truly enormous carp sitting in the bottom of his net.

He said: “It was simply colossal. I phoned my other mates on the lake to come and have a look. None of us had seen anything like it – the fish was mind-blowing.”

Fishery rules state that, because of their size, the bigger fish in Holme Fen fish must be photographed in the water, which was just as well, as Darren confirmed Jensen “just couldn’t lift it.”

So, will the young angler be putting his name in the record books? At present, he remains undecided.

“I’m not sure I want the hassle of submitting a claim,” Jensen said. “It won’t affect my angling. For me it’s just about having fun in my fishing.”

Darren confirmed that he won’t be pushing his son to go for the record, adding: “I’d like to see him claim it, but it’s totally his decision at the end of the day, and we won’t pressure him either way. He has a habit of catching really big fish – he had a 35lb pike last year – but he’s just as happy catching 2oz rudd on the float.”

Jensen tempted his massive new personal best using a Tails Up Baits pop-up hookbait on a hinged stiff rig.

“It was nothing like I’d ever seen before – I didn’t think it was real”