2024 has been an exceptional year for British records, with no fewer than six records broken in just 10 months from February to November. As fish sizes continue to increase year after year, it’s not unusual for a record to be broken annually, but to see six records shattered—including Steve Ricketts' eel, which surpassed a previous record that stood for 45 years—is truly remarkable.
It’s safe to say we may never witness another year like this! In fact, it was almost seven as the Waterside Common was landed by Chris Lines, a mere 1oz less than the Parrot at 68lb.
Lloyd Watson 47lb 5oz pike
Back in February, Lloyd Watson was fishing at Chew Valley Reservoir when he broke another long-standing record, landing a monster pike weighing 47lb 5oz, beating the previous record of 46lb 13oz caught by Roy Lewis from Llandegfedd Reservoir, South Wales.
"When I got it into the net, we both looked at it and couldn’t believe the size. It was absolutely ridiculous! This is the best day of my life,” Lloyd exclaimed!
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Dai Gribble 4lb 3oz roach
In somewhat unusual circumstances, the British Record roach that stood at 4lb 4oz caught by Keith Berry in 2007 has been downgraded to 4lb 3oz due to a new protocol when testing the scales submitted for verification. This means both Dai Gribble's roach and Keith Berry's fish will share the record.
The two-time Drennan Cup winner had the fish from Brasenose 1 on Oxford’s Linear Fisheries complex in March, with maggot feeder tactics producing the goods. It topped a sensational run of redfins for Dai, who landed fish of 3lb 6oz and 3lb 5oz on the session prior.
“When I saw a huge fish rise up just beyond the net, I was on edge. It shied away before I managed to draw it to safety. I was totally blown away by its size. Compared to the three-pounders, it was ridiculous," he recalled.
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Darren Reitz 143lb catfish
It was round the time Lloyd caught his monster pike that the BRFC announced it would be accepting new claims for catfish, after omitting the species for over 20 years after concerns of imported fish becoming a problem.
"The committee believes that the population of Wels catfish now growing to specimen sizes in British waters means that the threat of illegal imports of large catfish has diminished and we are therefore willing to receive new claims for the species. In order to avoid an excessive volume of record claims, the BRFC will advise the threshold weight for new claims exceed 130lb," the BRFC said.
A mere two months later, Darren Reitz landed 'Scar', a known catfish from Chigborough Lakes in Essex, at a colossal 143lb, becoming the first record for the species since 2000 where it stood at 62lb, highlighting just how big these fish are getting in British waters.
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Steve Ricketts 11lb 3oz eel
The record that has been regarded by many anglers as the most impressive was the 11lb 3oz eel caught by Steve Ricketts back in June of this year, narrowly beating the previous record of 11lb 2oz caught a staggering 45 years prior by Steve Terry.
“But when I saw it surface, I shouted out in shock. My net has three-foot arms, and with the fish’s head at the spreader block, a load of its body was still hanging out the back!”
“I couldn’t believe the 11lb 5oz weight on my digitals, so got out my Salter match scales, which are very sensitive. They gave a reading of 11lb 3oz. I then called a few witnesses, including National Anguilla Club Records Officer, Tony Kellner.”
What is even more shocking is, due to the slow growing nature of eels, many have theories that this fish could be over 100 years old!
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Adam Brookbanks 4lb 14oz crucian
Angler Adam Brookbanks landed an enormous crucian carp from a venue that wasn't on any specimen anglers radar, as it had never produced a fish anywhere near that weight in the past. It was caught from the Barham Syndicate in Suffolk, where Adam was fishing for carp. This capture proved that there’s still some mystery left in specimen angling, even in the current era where targeting ‘known’ fish is popular.
“The fish was weighed on three sets of scales, registering 4lb 14oz, 4lb 15oz, and 5lb 2oz,” Adam told us.
“I’d landed a different fish of 4lb 9oz in August on a 15mm pop-up, after which I decided to step down to a 12mm bait. I was still targeting carp, but the smaller bait gave me a better chance of picking up a crucian. There must be smaller ones in here, but they can’t get the big baits used by the carp anglers into their mouths, so they don’t generally get caught.”
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Craig Robson 22lb 1oz barbel
The biggest barbel ever reported in the British Isles was caught in November, weighing in at an incredible 22lb 1oz. It was banked by James Crosby, adding a whopping 15oz to the existing record, taken by Colin Smithson five years ago from a Sussex river.
Fittingly, it was caught from the Kings Weir Fishery on the River Lea – a venue that was fished by Izaak Walton back in the 17th Century and was a favourite haunt of legendary barbel angler, Fred Crouch
“From the headshakes I knew that it was a good fish, but after bringing it upriver I had it under control and in the net, where it rested for 10 minutes while I tried to calm down” he said.
“The digital scales slammed straight round to 22lb 1oz, and we knew that something special had happened,” James added.
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