The recent capture of a new 15lb tench record has highlighted once again the fact that records are tumbling and the average weight of many coarse fish species is increasing. Phil Smith looks at some of the possible reasons and predicts that the big fish bonanza may not be over yet

WE COARSE fish anglers live in interesting times. In a world that sees the rate of change accelerating at phenomenal speed within all aspects of life, be it scientific, the arts, or social and domestic, things are on the move. If you are an angler with an interest in the specialist scene, you will be aware that this rate of change applies to the coarse fishing scene in spades.

Within very recent times we have seen English-bred carp of almost 60lb, barbel over 19lb, bream of 18lb plus, and tench of 15lb, fish of this calibre were once the stuff of dreams but now they are all very real. In fact, I would suggest that as recently as 10 years ago you could have got 1000/1 odds for the bream and barbel of those weights and 500/1 for the tench. Perhaps the only one of these that could have been foreseeable would be the carp.

So why have these fish, as well as others across the range of species, shown these increases to weights that in many cases were once thought to be the stuff of legend and myth? It would seem that no single or even two or three events could give the answer, so let’s look at some of the factors which may have led to these increases in weight.

As I have already suggested, perhaps the least surprising of these increases in size is the carp. In the early 1960s very few waters held big carp but with the motorway development, gravel pits were being dug out at a tremendous rate. Both official and unofficial stockings of carp were taking place at this time and with the low density of fish those that were in the new waters could take full advantage of their fertile status. Thirty years on and we will often see the result of the right strain being put in the perfect water for its requirements. With carp, more than most other fish we also see the intervention of man as he actively managed the carp fishery with regards to stock and environment to give optimum conditions to produce big carp. I would of course ignore the exercise of stocking with large foreign imports, though it will be interesting to see the long-term effect of this almost accidental selective breeding, where large fish are selectively culled from abroad and imported into our waters. Their offspring could be a new generation of giants, but that’s for the future.

So now we have large carp swimming in waters ideally suited to their growth and good health, introduce the angler with his barrow-load of high and medium protein bait and a further growth takes place as the carp takes advantage of this extra food source. Whilst this can explain some of the big carp, we see there are of course problems in accepting this as the whole answer. For example, just this week there was a report of a 40lb carp from the local midland canal. The rivers up and down the country are producing 30lb-plus fish almost every week and I would expect a genuine 50lb carp from a river within the next several years and so the question goes on.

The same gravel pits that enhanced the carp scene also were available for other species and of course they took advantage of this.  An exception to the general rise in weights would be the tench, their weight change being quite different. Prior to the mid 1970s a 4lb tench would be classed as a good fish, and a 6lb fish was a giant specimen. I remember that around this time the Coventry Specimen Group record stood at 5lb 2oz until beaten by a giant for the time of 6lb 10oz. Then, within a season or two, the weight of tench just went through the roof. A 6lb fish become common and the top weight went up almost by the month and quickly went to 10lb. This happened over all waters, gravel pits, reservoirs, and lakes. Soon we saw the leap to Alan Wilson's 12lb-8oz giant from the Tring reservoir, which seemed just unbelievable at the time. As an aside, I would mention that the head bailiff of Tring followed a practice of what he called mixed strain breeding. For this purpose, he was always looking for good breeding stock of bream, roach, and tench from other waters. He would exchange on a pound-for-pound basis with other fisheries with the aim to strengthen his breeding stock, looking at the Tring system over the years perhaps other fisheries might benefit from the idea.

But let's get back to tench. Alan’s fish was beaten by others to take the record to 14lb-plus and for a number of years the tench seemed to be in decline or at least static. Big fish were still being caught but the number of 12lb fish being taken seemed to be going down, whereas the other contenders in our discussion, bream and barbel were making steady and continuous increases.   We now have a 15lb fish reported but although this is a great fish, the trend remains the same and will be interesting to watch.

Now onto bream, which along with barbel, is a species showing mind-blowing changes. In 1983 the first 14lb bream was reported from the TC Pit. The following year Queensford came on the scene and along with Tony Bromley’s fish took the record to an equal 15lb 6oz. This was then increased slowly up to 16lb 12oz all these fish were caught from a few selected waters, each fishery competing with the others to hold the record. These fish were held to be giants of their time, then after all the years of records being kept we have two 18lb plus fish from unknown waters reported within weeks of each other. Behind the scene of this remarkable event we have the less well-observed fact that from that first 14lb fish water we now have well over 20 waters known to hold 14lb fish with six of these producing 16lb-plus fish. As with the carp these fish come from a wide range of venues, gravel pits, reservoirs and lakes, some heavily fished with carp anglers bait loaded in, whilst others hardly see an angler from one week to another.

Moving from stillwater to river, the target species may be different, but with regard to big fish potential it’s the same story, especially with barbel. For example, in recent times three 14lb 6oz fish, two from the Hampshire Avon and one from the Thames held the record. Although a 16lb 1oz fish is on record as being foul-hooked, this fish did at least prove that a 16lb barbel existed. Many other very reputable anglers saw fish that were estimated to be in excess of the then record but none were landed and so they remain an unknown factor. within a season or two, the weight of tench just went through the roof, perhaps we catch what is there and the estimates were optimistic?

Today however, we need no estimates; the record exceeds 19lb, with fish of 15lb and even 16lb being caught from a number of different rivers. The Great Ouse currently leads the field but I think it is only a year or two ahead of the rest and as it levels out the others will catch up. I predict that within the next five years the record would go to 20lb-plus, with four or five rivers capable of taking that record.

The last fish to be mentioned is the chub, though this time it is not the tremendous increase in ultimate weight but the vast surge in quality fish giving us large numbers of 6lb and 7lb fish on many river systems.  When I began fishing in the middle 1960’s you would fish long and hard for a 5lb chub, perhaps a season fishing would give just one of that weight. Today I could guarantee catching one of that weight within a weekend, often more than one. The target has now moved to 6lb with a real chance of the 7lb fish on many venues. Although these kinds of weight increases are not on the same scale as it is with the bream and barbel, even so the same factors, which lead to, such weight increases are probably at work.

Other species don’t appear to have experienced the general increase of those mentioned; mostly they are more isolated pockets of big fish such as the Buckingham 4lb perch or the Linch Hill roach. Whilst of interest these species are not the subjects of this discussion. So the question remains - why have so many species shown such a marked growth beyond that which could reasonably be expected or explained? We have a wide range of venues through gravel pits, ponds, reservoirs and lakes, river and streams both large and small, situated from the north through the midlands into the south all showing these changes. So what could be the cause?

Some of the changes could be explained by the change of close season giving rise to more of the stillwater species being caught with spawn, but even so many increase are above and beyond this. The fact that these weight increases have occurred in the same species over the wide geographical area and an equally varied selection of waters would suggest to me that the cause must be. We are told of the global warming and see its effect in the long wet and mild winters that we experience nowadays. Although not so noticeable, one must assume that both spring and autumn also are correspondingly milder all this giving the fish much longer feeding periods. From my uniformed position it seems there are less fish around than I remember, hence more food for those that are there. This could perhaps reflect poor breeding seasons or survival rates both in still and moving waters. The U.V. factor of the sun is identified as much higher than previously experienced and we are warned to take protective action, do fish suffer from the rays? I don’t know, but it’s another factor to consider.

The bottom line is that many species are increasing in both their maximum size attainable and in the average weight of the species as a whole. The cause remains unknown and we can only guess what it may be, but does it matter? Go out and enjoy yourself, improve your personal bests and if you are very lucky you catch the new British Record then sit back and wait, it will not be a long wait for the weights are increasing!

This article was first published in Coarse Angling Today September 2001