What is a National Specimen size Coarse Fish

[Bob Hornegold]

Have the goal posts altered for what you would consider a Specimen size coarse fish ?

I do realise that fish weight vary from North to South in Great Britian, but this is only a bit of fun !!

Pike -------- 20lbs
Perch --------3lbs 8ozs
Eel ----------- 5lbs
Zander-------- 8lbs
Carp --------- 30lbs
Roach-------- 2lbs
Rudd--------- 2lbs 8ozs
Tench ------- 10lbs
Bream-------- 10lbs
Barbel-------- 12lbs
Chub--------- 6lbs 8ozs
Dace--------- 1lb
Crucian Carp---3lbs



Bob

 

[tortoise100]

Not that I have ever caught any of those fish at anyware close to those figures.

In my opinion from reading lots of the weeklys the carp and zander could be too low and the perch , eel and rudd too hi .

But this might be because not many eels or zander ever get into the weeklys .

 

[The bad one]

Pike -------- 20lbs
Perch --------3lbs 8ozs
Eel ----------- 4lbs
Zander-------- 10lbs
Carp --------- 30lbs
Roach-------- 2lbs
Rudd--------- 2lbs 8ozs
Tench ------- 8lbs
Bream-------- 10lbs
Barbel-------- 12lbs
Chub--------- 5 lb
Dace--------- 12 oz
Crucian Carp---3lbs
There's mine

 

[steph mckenzie]

I would go with about half the weight and over of the current record size for the fish in question.

For Example: Tench Record = 15lb 3oz 6dr .... then a specimen Tench would be anything from 8lb plus.

 

[dannytaylor]

Barbel 10Ib
Bream 10Ib
Carp 25Ib
Chub 5Ib
Crucian 2Ib
Eel 4Ib
Dace 10oz
Roach 1.5Ib
Rudd 1.5Ib
Pike 20Ib
Perch 2.5Ib
Tench 7Ib

These are realistic targets based on the local waters i fish. I think the fish published in the weeklys distort anglers perceptions of what a good fish is, its all relevent to what you have available to you. If you are traveling to "big fish" waters you can raise the bar. I would be VERY happy to catch fish at anyone of the weights i have listed :w

 

[Bob Hornegold]

steph,

Half the current Record list is a decent marker I reckon.

With the predation going on around the country I think we are coming to an end of the Huge Fish being caught that we have seen over the last 15 or so years.

Except Carp that can be Stocked at a size that is Cormerant proof !!

Bob

 

[barbelboi]

Half the current record seems to work quite well.

 

[watatoad]

INFO SOURCE:

Fisheries.co.uk - British Rod-caught Record Fish

UK Rod Caught Fish Records

Generally a specimen of most fish species is considered to be 50% of the record. Although it must be only a guide and will and must vary on different rivers.

To me a specimen is not just about weight or length and depth but must really be as much about condition.

 

[dezza]

One of the aims of the specimen hunters of the 60s was to achieve the capture of all coarse fish to a weight of half that of the national rod caught record.

With the exception of the minnow, I did that by 1966.

 

[Bob Hornegold]

Ron,

Was you living down South then

Bob

 

[barbelboi]

One of the aims of the specimen hunters of the 60s was to achieve the capture of all coarse fish to a weight of half that of the national rod caught record.

With the exception of the minnow, I did that by 1966.

Me too, apart from carp



















and one or two others

 

[dezza]

Ron,

Was you living down South then

Bob

No Bob I was living in Sheffield. But we used to travel a bit to get decent fish, like we had to go north to the Rivers Swale, Ouse and Ure for barbel, for roach we had the River Idle, for bream we had the Fens, for tench we had the Warping Drain and numerous estate lakes, for pike we had Hornsea, for rudd we had a couple of private lakes, for dace we had the river Ryton, for Grayling we went up to the Annan in Southern Scotland, for chub we had the Yorkshire rivers, for perch we had a specific Lincolnshire drain.

I even caught eels 1/2 the record from the Witham in Lincolnshire.

 

[Philip]

One of the aims of the specimen hunters of the 60s was to achieve the capture of all coarse fish to a weight of half that of the national rod caught record. With the exception of the minnow, I did that by 1966.

What ?!??!!

....Are you seriously telling me you even weighed minnows in this frenzied weight chasing bonanza back in the 60s ? ...Bad show BAD show ! …I’ll have you know some of us on here consider weight is not important you know ! :wh

My list...

Barbel 10Ib
Bream 10Ib
Carp 25Ib
Chub 5Ib
Crucian 2Ib
Eel 4Ib
Dace 12oz
Roach 2Ib
Rudd 2Ib
Pike 20Ib
Perch 2.5Ib
Tench 8.5Ib
Zander 10lb

Not sure why but I always have trouble putting a specimen weight to Tench. 10 I thinks way too much and 8 not enough...difficult one..

 

[watatoad]

There were a few groups of really crazy specimen hunters some of those groups started back in the 50's and were still going in the 80's maybe some are still at it but just to get in them, you had to have caught at least 4 species witnessed of at least 75% of the record, I did here one group demanded 90% but those wild and crazy days are long gone. Unless you know better...hehehe

 

[dezza]

I must apologise, I didn't do it with the carp either.

The rest:

Pike: 21 1/2lbs
Perch: 3lbs 6oz
Bream: 7 1/2 lbs
Tench: 5 lbs 14 oz
Roach: 1 lbs 15 oz
Rudd: 2 lbs 7oz
Dace 1lbs 4 oz
Carp: 9lbs 15 oz
Barbel: 7 lbs 3 oz
Crucian Carp: 3lbs 8oz
Chub: 4lbs 14oz
Eel: 4lbs 8 oz
Grayling: 2lbs 8 oz
Gudgeon: 0 lbs 3 oz

Not bad for a 24 year old kid living in Yorkshire.