AN ANGLER has smashed Britain’s carp record after catching a huge fish named the “Big Common”.
Michael Nixon, 48, landed the whopper in the early hours of April 24 after a four-day stay at Kingfisher Lake, in Chesham, Buckinghamshire.
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Michael Nixon by his record-breaking carp
He maintained the welfare of the fish is always his top priority
The carp weighed in at a massive 68lbs and 8oz (31.20kg), breaking the UK record of 68lbs and 1oz set back in 2016.
“I feel very good about it. I couldn’t get back to sleep, I was so excited,” the record-breaker angler told The Jattvibe.
Nixon, a landscape gardener from Dudley, booked the Kingfisher lake with five other pals last year, with the precise intent of catching the Big Common – a male common carp aged between 20 and 28.
Kingfisher Lake, home to the Big Common, is part of the angling venue Waterside Fishery.
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Big Common came in at a whopping 31.20kg
The angler is awaiting official confirmation that the fish has broken records
“It was our first time there. We booked the lake last year, we knew the fish was growing, and we knew it was close to the record.”
The dad-of-two from Dudley goes angling “as much as possible, with the business and the family life”, but wasn’t expecting such a big catch.
“It was quite exciting when we realised it. That was our last day. My friends were with me, and we booked the place for that fish [the Big Common].
“The lake owner runs an amazing fishery, and I think that’s a testament to his hard work.”
Family-run Waterside Fishery is not new to record-breaking catches.
Last March, angler George Benos landed a 68lbs fish at the venue – missing to get to the annals by just 8oz.
“It is about love and judgment, because these things don’t happen all the time,” Kris Tardi, director of Waterside Fishery, told The Jattvibe.
“There is an element of luck, because it’s very rare.”
The 36-year-old’s family has owned the business for the past twelve years.
When Big Common was caught, he rushed to the lake in order to look after the fish and weigh him properly.
“My main job is to make sure the well-being of the fish is looked after, and that everything is done properly.”
After having weighed him, the massive carp was released immediately. Tardi is currently waiting for the British Record Fish Committee (BRFC), the angling trust which keeps track of caught fish weights, to officially recognise the new record.
“We sent them everything, now we can just wait for their response,” Tardi said.
The previous UK record was set in 2016 by angler Dean Fletcher, who landed the 68lbs and 1oz carp known as “the Parrot”, due to the shape of its mouth, at Cranwells Lake, Wasing.
In the same year, 33-year-old Tom Doherty landed a fish named “Big Rig”, which tipped the scales at 70lbs.
However, the catch wasn’t awarded any recognition, because the carp had been “hand-reared”, and therefore it couldn’t be verified as a new best by the BRFC.
On that occasion, some outraged fishermen even sent death threats to the unlucky angler, The Jattvibe reported.
The first notable carp landed in the UK in 1952, by angler and author Richard Walker in a pond near Ross-on-Wye.
Dubbed Clarissa, the female carp weighed 44 lbs when she was caught – and she was put up for auction for a minimum of £35,000 by Shropshire auction house in 2024.
