Friday 16 January 2009

Uk coarse fishing records

This post gives you the most recent coarse fishing records. In time I will add capture and species specific pictures and details if available. Please allow for records to change, but they are known to be correct as of 19th January 09. If you have details of new UK coarse fishing records or you have broken the UK coarse fishing records please get in touch.

UK Coarse Fishing Records



  • UK coarse fishing record: Barbel

  • Record weight: 21lb 1oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Bleak

  • Record weight: 4oz 9drm


  • UK coarse fishing record: Bream

  • Record weight: 19lb 10oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Catfish

  • Record weight: 62lb


  • UK coarse fishing record: Chub

  • Record weight: 9lb 5oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Carp

  • Record weight: 67lb


  • UK coarse fishing record: Crucian Carp

  • Record weight: 4lb 9oz 9drm


  • UK coarse fishing record: Dace

  • Record weight: 1lb 5oz 2dram


  • UK coarse fishing record: Eel

  • Record weight: 11lb 2oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Gudgeon

  • Record weight: 5oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Orfe

  • Record weight: 8lb 5oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Perch

  • Record weight: 5lb 15oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Pike

  • Record weight: 46lb 13oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Roach

  • Record weight: 4lb 4oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Rudd

  • Record weight: 4lb 10oz


  • UK coarse fishing record: Ruffe

  • Record weight: 5oz 4drms


  • UK coarse fishing record: Tench

  • Record weight: 15lb 3oz 6dram


  • UK coarse fishing record: Zander

  • Record weight: 21lb 5oz


What's your biggest Uk coarse fish?

My biggest UK coarse fish still stands 10-12 years after capture! It was a 23lb 12oz Mirror Carp caught from Claverhambury Carp lake and I landed it on a 2.1lb hook-length and a 20 hook! Since then, I have banked numerous decent fish but never bettered the old Carp! One fish that does stick in my head, for reasons that will soon become apparent, was the biggest of a trio of big Roach caught on a club match many years ago. We fished the river Ouzel in Milton Keynes and it was chocolate coloured and pushing through like a steam train. No point trying to float fish it, heavy feeder + big bait and hope for the best! Well, the best to that idea came in the form of a 1lb 8oz Chub caught on a piece of Cheese. In fact, the only other fish I could muster on the tip was a decent Perch of around the 1lb mark. By this time it was almost mid afternoon! The Ouzel is fairly narrow and fast flowing, not a venue that you would set your pole up, usually. On the opposite bank was an over-hanging tree that offered a break from the flow and also a bit of protection for the Chub, or so I imagined. The only thing was going to be the accuracy needed to place a bait in such a tight spot with such an unforgiving background. Bare winter tree! It had to be the pole, 7-8 inches of line from tip to float and double Caster for hookbait. I managed to maneouvre my float in position and waited as it sat motionless, inches away from the main current. I didn't have to wait for long. The double Caster was snapped up by something that wanted to give me a closer look at the underside of the tree! However, I was prepared for that and used 3lb equivelant hooklength. I bit of gentle coaxing soon brought the fish into the main flow where it started to give quite a good account for itself! Not good enough though. As I guided it toward the net I saw red fins! No way is that a Roach, I said to myself. I only ever catch Bream that big! This fish was the biggest of the trio. The following fish weighed: 1lb 10oz + 1lb 4oz. The biggest fish weighed, 1lb 15oz 8drm!!!!!! I couldn't believe that he wouldn't give me the 8drm!

Your biggest fish stories here please......

Where's fishing well?

Well, I'm afraid that's one question I wouldn't be able to answer, honestly. I haven't managed to reach the bank since before Xmas 08! Mind you, for how cold it's been, and also how poorly the ol' grandads been doing of late, I haven't really been missing much!


I'm sure that most of you have still been getting out though? Let us know where's fishing well if you have been brave enough for the weather??

Your Favourite UK Coarse Fishing Canal?

My favourite canal is withoubt doubt, the Grand Union Canal. Again, I've never done particularly well there, on any occasion, but have fished so many stretches on so many different occasions that I guess I was kind of brought up on it. I used to have a 3m whip, little pole rig with an Olivette and bag about 3-4lb of Gudgeon. I remember my first pole section break at Bullbeggars lane on the Grand Union Canal, wind + trolley = Broken 3rd section! Ouch! Pole's never original after that...


My Grandad used to take me to a stretch of the Grand Union Canal up by Hangar Lane and that's where he first taught me about liquidised bread and punch! I used to love getting Roach and the occasional Skimmer using my old non-elasticated pole! While I'm talking about liquidised bread/punch, you should try it on your local commercial. I have lost count of the amount of times it's gotten me out of trouble when even maggot wont buy you a bite! If the big boys are feeding, step up the size. If it's rock hard, try small pieces of Bread punch and the odd ball of liquidised bread on the pole or small feeder. It works a treat. It's cheap aswell!


So yes, the Grand Union is definitely my favourite canal.


What is your favourite canal and why??

Don't forget to visit the favourite river and lake pages over on the right hand side, so you can have your say there too!

Your Favourite UK Coarse Fishing Lake?

Is your favourite lake a commercial pond or a big, wave-crashing pit? I don't consider myself to be a lover of commercial fisheries but upon thinking of my favourite lake I have come up with the top lake at Claverhambury Carp lakes in Waltham abbey, Essex.


Back when I first started fishing it around 15 years ago, you would get small Tench, Golden Tench and plenty of Rudd thrown in amongst the Carp but nowadays it is predominantly Carp. Though in saying that, I have had some clonking Roach out of there, over a pound quite a few times. I suppose they will only get bigger with the amount of bait the goes in. Give it a few years and the commercials will be producing the records. Even Barbel!


Anyway, with Claverhambury seeming to produce nothing other than battered looking Carp under 2lb, that definitely switch off for 2 periods in mid morning and mid afternoon, bailiffs that always get you and too large-a duck population for my liking how could it win the crown of Lee Churchill's favourite lake??

I think it's because when I was a kid, Claverhambury was the only place you could go to 'really bag-up!'. I fished a number of matches over there between the ages of 12-14 and I remember winning numerous times with a number 5 elastic! I never had the luxuries of spare top two's! I used to spend 20 minutes playing a 3lb Carp, with the elastic bottomed out! Gotta laugh, haven't you?!


Another reason why the top lake at Claverhambury is my favourite lake is because it produced my biggest coarse fish to-date, in the form of a 23lb 12oz Mirror Carp.

I remember it was a rock-hard day so I scaled down to 3.5lb mainline and a 2.1 lb bottom, 20 hook and a white and red maggot. I was having the occasional Roach and was losing the will to live to be honest until WHACK!! My Drennan medium feeder rod flew off its rest and I just managed to catch the end of the butt before it went in! I didn't think it was particulary big as it shot off really quick. I had to let it have line because of the light hooklength, but it went, and went some more! Luckily my spool was fully loaded or it would have took my line and smashed me when it hit the knott!

I could drag this story on for ages but I'll spare you....


After having to remove several anglers from their swims, I ended up on the other side of the lake, facing the island! To those of you that know it, I started off in the first peg to the left of the gate! After 45 minutes of giving I slowly began to bring it in. The Carp was absolutely knackered and to be honest, so was I! A bloke with a bigger net than mine did the honours and kindly took a picture, promising to forward one on to me. He never did, the ^%$£.

So that's my favourite lake and why! I will dedicate pages to all of the fisheries that I have fished in time, but for now what's your favourite lake and why?


Don't forget to go to the favourite river and canal pages on the right hand side to have your say about those too!

Your Favourite UK Coarse Fishing River?

This page is hopefully going to become full of your favourite UK coarse fishing river venues! But, until such a time comes I'll have to bore you with mine....


So my favourite river....Hmm. It has to be the Thames. I have loads of memories of fishing it with my grandad, Alf Churchill, dozens of different stretches.

The fishing on the Thames isn't what it used to be, I am led to believe. But we still used to have some pretty good days.

I remember one day in particular we were fishing at wallingford. The weather was nice, it wasn't pushing too hard and there was a nice drop of colour in the water. Conditions were bang on, but I was only having a few bits.

Ol' grandad however, was hauling.

He was punching a feeder across to the far bank and was having a few Chub up to the 4-5lb mark. Whilst doing this, he'd also been feeding the inside line with hemp and caster with the intention of running a stick down it.

The Chub tailed off and he then decided to go down the inside.
D'you know what?
From the second he chucked in he didn't stop catching goer Roach. Honestly, one a chuck, all between 3-10oz.

This went on for about two hours and since my fishing had all but dried up, I decided I should go and alert my grandad to the fact that surely he's bored with catching piddly Roach by now?
After all, there's probably a 6lb Chub just waiting to have a feeder crashed on top of it's head on the far bank?
My plan worked and I ended up sitting taking over where he left off with the Roach and seriously put a few fish in the net.

Then, PIKE!

I still remember, the rod was a Daiwa whisker, the reel an Abu 506 (with no backwind!) and the hook length was 1.7lb bayer. What im trying to say is I had no chance! It smashed me straight away.

Being a varied kind of angler I carry a varied kit! I went to my rod-bag and proceeded to set up an old 12ft match rod, with a dog reel loaded with 10lb line and a trebled wire trace.

Obviously my grandad was pulling his hair out (Yeah right...) about me ruining his swim with barbarian tackle and such but I simply informed him of the need to remove the marauding pike and place it a few swims down so that we might get the Roach going again....right?


I caught a live-bait and cast out to roughly where the pike had struck previously and waited for about 2 minutes before the rod tip yanked round and I struck into a decent Pike.

My grandad being a hardcore tiddler basher was flapping around cursing me and suggesting my antics would ruin the rest of his days fishing but I was too busy with my old glass 12ft match rod bent double to fully take it all in!

After a ten minute struggle I landed a Pike of around the 10lb mark. It was in good condition, not long and skinny like some Pike I've caught.

I safely removed the hooks and walked the pike a few swims down, put some oxygen in it's gills and watched it swim off in the opposite direction.


I then returned to my grandads swim and heard him rambling on about the Pike being removed, the Roach being scared and there no point in trying to fish for either as they wouldn't be there anymore. However, I still had the Roach as it was still hooked when I landed the Pike. I gave it another whirl!

Grandad was bleating on about 'no chance' etc and then, after about 5 mins the rod went again! As I was playing the second Pike I noticed my grandad wind in and cut his feeder rig off! Oh dear!

Five or ten minutes went by before I managed to land the Pike. Now, you're probably thinking that it's the same fish, right?
Wrong!
It weighed just over 12lb! Two pike from the same swim in less than half an hour? Surely I wouldn't get a third? Surely I wouldn't be able to catch a livebait? Wrong again!

I went on to land another Pike of 7lb. Three different Pike out of one part of a swim? That must have been one big shoal of Roach!

We packed up soon after but that day sticks in my mind and it adds to the many other memories of the Thames, good and bad, that make it my favourite UK coarse fishing river venue. It also reminds me of the fact that the fish don't always follow the textbooks!


So what's your favourite river venue and why?

Make sure you also visit the favourite UK coarse fishing lake and canal pages on the right hand side of the page to have your say about those too...

UK coarse fishing: An online angling community

Welcome to the UK coarse fishing blog. It has been set-up by a UK coarse fishing enthusiast for other anglers to come and swap fishy tales, learn and share fishing knowledge and advice etc, post their catches with film and photos, get fishery run-downs and plenty more besides that.

I will regularly add new content to the UK coarse fishing blog in an attempt to bring you other UK coarse fishing enthusiasts lots of sound knowledge, tips, help and advice.

For the UK coarse fishing blog to work properly it needs the input of the angling community. I.E you!


You can post all you want here, as long as it's related to UK coarse fishing and it's legal! Get started and become a part of the community by posting:


  • Fishing related questions

  • Comments

  • Tales of past and recent UK coarse fishing captures

  • Coarse fishing pictures

  • Fishing video files (your own or via YouTube©)

  • UK Coarse fishing match results (all levels)

  • Coarse fishing tips

  • Where to get cheap fishing tackle

  • Upcoming UK coarse fishing matches


In fact, just about anything UK coarse fishing related is welcome here. I just ask that you refrain from using "blue" language. There's no need for it and youngsters are liable to read the blog. So thanks in advance for your taking notice.

So what of the man behind the blog?
Is he a famous face?
More to the point, is he any good at coarse fishing?
Who is he to be dolling out advice on coarse fishing anyway?

My name is Lee Churchill and I have been fishing for around 17 years now. I was introduced to the UK coarse fishing scene by my dear old grandad, Alf Churchill. He used to take me up on the River Lea at Picketts lock. We'd catch small Roach and Perch and I loved it. There was something magical about that dirty old stretch of canal, conveniently located within a few hundred feet of the local sewage plant. That place stunk to high heaven. Especially when it was hot!

I went on to join the Edmonton and Tottenham angling society, of which my grandad is the chairman. I used to stay over at my grandads house the night before a club match and we'd spend hours making rigs and preparing for the next days fishing.

Looking back, didn't really do him much good.....;-)


Then be up at around 5am the following morning to meet the double decker bus that the club hired to deliver both us and our fishing tackle to the bi-weekly club outings. We'd fish rivers, canals and lakes up and down the country.
The junior section was fairly small, never more than a dozen or so. However, as my fishing skills progressed, I won most outings and picked up a good few trophys along the way. The most memorable of which was the London anglers association Thames championship. Dickie Carr presented me with my trophy and to me, back then, he was a legend!

I also joined the Enfield junior league, run by a certain Eddie Williams, aka Eddie the animal! What an absolute legend. I remember once we were practicing for the London youth games on the Regents canal and some fella on a motorbike kept flying up and down the towpath behind us with little, or no, regard for our pole sections. Anyhow, Eddie soon had enough. He calmy unshipped his pole and waited for the next arrival of 'Evil Knieval'. As I looked to my right I saw the 100 or so cc of motorbike hurtling toward us and watched Eddie, best part of 60 years old and 5ft tall, stand up. A few seconds past and the man on the bike took a full right hander to the side of the head at around 30mph! He then proceeded to zig-zag his way past the next 3 swims, narrowly missing my team-mates and finally past me. His face was an absolute picture, we made eye contact and I could just tell he was thinking "I wasn't expecting that to happen....". We all fell about laughing and It's an image I'm glad I have in my head because it always makes me laugh, even now!

I was usually top three on our weekly wednesday evening match at Ponders end on the River Lea. The place is stuffed with Bream but it's a rarity to bag up! The best weight I ever had was 2 Bream for just over 8lb. But, it was fishing these matches that got me noticed for a place in the London youth games. We fished a venue in Crystal palace on a scorching hot day and the lake didn't fish well at all. I ended up fishing chopped worm and managed 7lb of mainly Perch, boosted a little by a 1lb Tench. I actually lost a good Skimmer on the waggler right at the last knockings that would have put me second. Oh well, never mind....

Shortly after this time, I kind of found out what my maggot was really for! That pretty much stopped my fishing career going anywhere as I didn't grace a bank for around 3 years.

Today, I can hold my own at club level, but really just love coarse fishing in general. I often just take a rod, a small bag for bait and a few terminal bits and just have 3-4 hours fishing for Barbel on a backstream of the river Ouse in Bedford. I've had nothing bigger than 7lb but they're great fun. Especially on a stick float with 3lb line.

Another example would be that I just take an extremely light carp outfit and go to Brookfield lake in Cheshunt. It's a reasonably hard fishery and one side is members only. These guys have literally thousands of pounds worth of kit, even the contents of their bait tables are worth more than my whole Brookfield outfit!

I'd simply take a John Wilson Barbel type rod, a couple of qtr-ounce bombs, a Shimano Aero match reel loaded with 6lb line, a pack of size 8 hooks, landing net, mat and a tin of Spam. In 7 visits I had 12 Carp between 12 and 20lb A friend fished with me and also enjoyed similar catches. But, in all those sessions I only ever witnessed one fish caught by another angler! We basically found a hotspot and a bait that was simple but effective as the venue is hammered with Boilies. I remember one session I turned up at around 4pm, Spent 2 minutes setting up, threw in a few bit of meat and cast out. Exactly opposite me was a fella that had clearly been sitting there all day without a sniff. Poor sod. Within 3 minutes of getting there I was into my first Carp. They go well on a heavy feeder rod and six pound line, but Brookfield being a fairly snag free venue helps. In that session I had 3 Carp upto 18lb and I was home by six!

What I am trying to say is that my experience of UK coarse fishing is varied, with a bias towards match fishing. I claim to be no better or worse than anyone else that uses the UK coarse fishing blog. So to that extent, I look forward to receiving your future contributions no matter what your skill level or favourite brand of tackle might be.

All the best and tight lines,

Lee Churchill