Wingham’s Big Plated land at 83¼lb

The carp fishing grapevine went into meltdown last week when the British record wasn’t just smashed, but it was obliterated with the capture of a massive 83¼lb mirror from the exclusive Wingham Main Lake! The fish is a known home-grown carp and a member of the Carp-Talk Most Wanted list. This amazing news completely wipes out all of the controversy surrounding imported and cultivated carp breaking the record that has taken up so much bank time conversation in recent months.

The name of the captor is being kept quiet for the time being, but Wingham owner Steve Burke revealed: “The fish appears spawnbound. As a result the captor doesn’t wish to be named and will not be claiming the record. This is the rarely caught Big Plated that was supplied by renowned fish breeder Ken Crow as a three-year-old at a weight of 10lb. Her heaviest recorded weight was 52lb in the Spring of last year. I didn’t allow the captor to lift the fish for a photo. However a picture was taken with him kneeling behind the fish. This won’t be released as he doesn’t want publicity. She swam off very strongly and hopefully someone will catch her again without spawn. I’m often asked about whether the Carp Lake or Main Lake is the more likely to produce a record carp. My answer has always been the Main Lake as I’ve deliberately allowed very little pressure at all there until recently, and as the old saying goes ‘big fish thrive on neglect’. The carp in the mysterious Main Lake are typically about 3 years younger than those in the Carp Lake and have already nearly caught them up.”

According to Carp-Talk’s sources, it was hooked fairly in the mouth and put up a very good battle before being netted. It was weighed on a tripod with numerous witnesses and on at least five sets of scales. It then went off very strong afterwards too.

The fish very much resembles the former British record from Duncan Kaye’s Mid-Northants fishery in that it is clearly carrying excess spawn or water. Back in 1995 Roddie Porter famously broke Chris Yates’ record of 51½lb from 1980 when he landed a 53lb 15oz in 1995. That fish was subsequently caught again the same year by Alex White when it weighed 55¼lb before it passed away a short time later.

We understand that the captor of the new record 83¼lb caught it on his very first session at Wingham. He is a new member and we’re confident that more details about his historical capture will eventually come out.