The British Record Fish Committee had one of their bi-annual meetings this past week and it was decided that Nigel Ludbrook’s capture of Captain Jack at a claimed 68½lb will not be accepted as a record. The scales were checked by Norfolk Calibration Services and found to be weighing at least ½lb too heavy.
The committee also discussed terms for a record carp claim given recent events, but couldn’t agree on any specifically conclusive terms. Therefore every record claim will be reviewed individually on its own merits.
The committee concluded that it would be helpful to advise potential record claimants, for any freshwater species, as to some of the aspects of any capture which would come under scrutiny in the process of considering a record claim, as follows:
- 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 stocking.
- The origin of the fish and its history prior to stocking.
- Whether the fish reached the weight claimed feeding on natural food and anglers’ baits only, without supplementary feeding or other treatments.
- Evidence of the growth rate of the fish.
- Consideration of whether the fish would be able to naturally sustain its weight in the fishery concerned.
The BRFC does not wish to encourage any attempts to introduce record-size fish via imports, or attempts to manipulate records by producing record-size fish through the use of deliberate fishery management practices. The committee has faced import and aquaculture issues in the past and ceased records for wels catfish and for cultivated game fish as a result.
