We're gonna need a bigger boat.... Big fish update.

With a few bigger fish being caught during the midseason period, I thought I would catch you all up on who is the cat’s whiskers in the race for the Jerry Bracey Specimen trophy so far in 2022.

We all like to see and better still catch larger fish. But it is not until you work out the percentage compared to the British record for that species, that you realise just how much of specimen it really is.

If you catch a fish that you think may be worthy of consideration for a specimen award, you need to make sure that the following rules are followed.

1. You must be fishing on one of the waters listed in the DDAS handbook.

2. If the fish is caught in a junior match or coaching session, then it will be weighed, recorded, and witnessed by the Junior Secretary and/or one of the coaching team.

3. If the fish is not caught during an official junior event, then you must get an independent person to witness the fish for you. If the witness is a club member, you need to ask them to give their membership number. If you cannot get a member to witness the fish, then you must find someone willing to give their name, address, and contact details. A parent should always be present when talking to people that juniors do not know.

4. If the fish was not caught in an official Junior session, the scales you use must be measured against one of the club’s official sets of scales, either junior or senior weighing scales will do. An object will be weighed on the club scales and then on the scales you used to weigh the fish. If they register the same weight, then your scales are verified and legal. This is much easier with modern digital scales than it would be with dial scales.

Unlike the senior specimen awards which run from June until the end of May the following year, the junior awards will be counted from January until December to keep continuity with the Junior season.

Back to the Cat’s whiskers for 2022 so far…

The way I do the calculation is this. Pounds and ounces are converted to grams, percentages worked out, and then converted back to pounds… It’s the only way my peanut brain can manage it.

Luckfield Lake has been the place to be for large fish for our juniors this year. All the fish recorded so far have been caught there.

Faith Stone had a slimy time during the recent evening match at Luckfield by catching a ‘Slab’ weighing 3lbs 8ozs. This worked out as being 15.421% of the British record.

Oliver Smith caught a big old Common Carp during the same evening match. 13lbs 4ozs is good enough to give Ollie 15.459% of the British record.

Jake Taylor managed to catch a pretty little red eyed Tench of 2lbs 12ozs, again during the evening match. This wins Jake 18.075% of the Tench record.

Top of the table though sits Jack Copp with his, yet to be unverified, Luckfield Roach weighing a bruising 1lb 9ozs, a massive 36.741% of the British record. If the scales and witnesses are verified, then this fish is going to be a challenge to beat.

But the season is not over yet, and things could change overnight.

Keep fishing. Keep catching. You never know what is on the end of the line when the tip goes or the float dips…

Juniors Sec…