How big do carp get? – Carpy Questions

How big do carp get?

A question that pops up everywhere from carp fishing forums to various social media platforms.

In this instalment of carpy questions we will answer the question “How big do carp get?” in most informative way possible.

Record-breaking carp

Firstly we have to look at record-breaking carp captures throughout the years.

With UK carp records at the time of writing this article being; Common Carp 64lb, Mirror Carp 71lb 4oz, Leather Carp 54lb 8oz and Grass Carp 52lb 8oz.

Carp outside of the UK can get even bigger with world records being; Common Carp 100lb 7oz, Mirror Carp 108lb and Grass Carp 105lb 13lb.

So in the right environment with a good source of high protein food, carp can reach weights of over 100lb in mainland Europe and reach weights of over 50lb in the UK.

In Asia carp can reach even bigger weights of over 190lb. A fish of this weight can also measure the length of a full grown man.

The main reason why carp get to larger sizes in mainland Europe and Asia is down to longer and hotter summers. Long summers means longer feeding duration causing the carp to gain larger weights in a shorter period of time.

So the question “How big do carp get?” really does depend on where you’re from or where you plan to fish for large carp.

Where can you catch big carp in the UK?

Most of the fisheries that have the UK’s biggest carp are often private or syndicate water which can be tricky to get permission to fish but there are a few day and season ticket waters that include some of the biggest carp.

Day ticket water Holme Fen Fishery in Cambridgeshire boasts an impressive lake record carp of 68lb but day ticket prices can be a little expensive.

Day ticket/ Syndicate water RH fisheries is another option to catch a huge carp. Rh fisheries recently had a carp capture of 71lb 4oz but was rejected as a UK carp record by the British Record Fish Committee for being artificially reared to near to record weight.

Day tickets water such as Linear fisheries, Elphicks Fisheries, Horseshoe Lake and Yateley Sandhurst Lake are also great places to catch a huge UK carp but be aware that these venues can be busy on weekends.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading our first instalment in our new series Carpy Questions.

If you have any queries about this post or have a question of your own then let us know in the comments below.

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