When does a fish become a manmade record?

[Anderoo]

Dave, don't forget that Wingham has produced several near-record bream. And Wingham receives very little bait indeed!

 

And when you see the masses of bloodworms, snails and shrimps, and clouds of sedges you can barely see through, it's easy to see why! The big clouds of insects are the real giveaway...just a few minutes before taking to the sky, each one was a fat, protein-rich larvae waddling up a gravel bar, and for every one that's hatched there must be dozens still waddling!

[Tigger]

I'm very sceptical of the 'high protein bait makes fish into giants' theory.

 

 

As far as I know those baits where designed for fish farms and to make fish grow large quickly so (salmon and trout for example) I would say they must have an effect in places where they're regularly fed.

[kevin2011]

It might be possible that we can call it record fish, but they are just a simple fish. Actually I dint even catch this kind of fish.

private label omega 3

[Phone]

Tigger,

 

Fish farms use a "cost/benefit" formula for feed (about 26% protein). Protein is the most costly part of the feed. Without going into weight gain to lb of feed - - etc farmers are interested in profits from the food industry. Anglers and specimen growers do not take into consideration "cost" factor but only benefits.

 

We tend to "fish" with baits far higher in protein than farmers use. We, anglers, can use 70% fishmeal protein without batting an eye.

 

The only thing that can make fish big is protein. Protein is the only way to make a fish reach it's maximum genetic potential. High protein equal big, bigger, biggest fish. Not necessairly a good thing for farmers (or anglers IMO).

 

I don't believe in HNV at the sub-atomic level but constant protein is how we (and fish) get fat.

 

Phone

[andy_youngs]

I have. I caught the british record Barbel on the Medway years a go...

So what do you think should constitute the British barbel record? I feel strongly that there should be a discinction between stocked barbel which are intoduced into an artificial environment, and wild fish which are caught from a river to which the species is indigenous.

 

Of course, such a distinction would automatically discount the current record contenders from the Upper Great Ouse and the Wensum..

 

On the Medway, I acknowledge that you have a bit more of a claim. 16lb still seems a bit on the heavy side for that environment though. Not wishing to take anything away from your achievement, but my guess is that high protein suppliments and artificial stockings played a part in your success. I would take your 16lber from the Medway over a 20lber from the Wensum. But I'd also take a 14lber from the Trent over your 16lber from the Medway.

[Steve Burke]

Andy, I agree with previous posters. For us a record fish isn't so much to do with the merit of the capture, it's got far more to do with recording the biggest weight of the species caught on rod and line.

 

For instance, if a fish were stocked in a water at a record weight rather than as a youngster that grew on, I wouldn't rate it on merit. It would still be a record fish though in my eyes.

 

So I was disappointed that the captor of the record bream decided after pressure not to claim the record as this is now at an artificially low weight. This is despite the fact it's more likely that one of the fisheries I created and manage, Wingham Coarse Lake, now has more chance of breaking the bream record!

.

[andy_youngs]

I know the criteria for identifying a British record Steve, and i think the fish committee is losing it's way.

 

I certainly wouldn't want to deny your fishery a record bream if it was properly deserved.

 

The problem comes when you eradicate the preditors from a river, then artificially stock it with non-indigenous fish, then tip tonnes of high protein supplements into he river, then pull out a record fish.

 

That's what has happenned with the UK barbel record.

 

How is that fair to the poor buggers on the Trent and the Thames when they spend the best part of their lives practicing the noble art for real, but have no realistic chance of ever catching a record fish because of a few greedy cheats in East Anglia.

 

To my mind it's akin to taking drugs in order to falsly win the 100 metres at the Olympics, and I think it all points towards the need for a two tier record system.

 

I'm afraid I just find it profoundly wrong that the UK barbel record is 21lb 1oz.

 

In fact, I think it's a travesty.

 

The scientists need to go away and grow a barbel on in a stock pond to its maximum possible size so that someone can pull it out of the water on a hook and line at a weight of 23lb and set a new record.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of us need to be abundantly clear that the current UK barbel record is an unnatural specimen from an artificially maintained population of barbel which is unsustainable in its natural state.

Edited March 24, 2012 by andy_youngs