British Record Fish List: Coarse Fish

The coarse fish records

These figures come from the British Record (rod-caught) Fish Committee's coarse list, dated 30 January 2026. Weights are in pounds and ounces, with drams where the list gives them, and in kilograms as listed. Records change when a new claim is accepted, so check the official list for the latest.

The official list also names each captor and, for most fish, the water. We've left those off here. Read them on the committee's list.

Reading the weights

British anglers still weigh in pounds and ounces. There are 16 ounces in a pound and 16 drams in an ounce, which is why the tench record carries a third figure. A dram is a sixteenth of an ounce. Small, but on a record it counts.

The kilogram column is the committee's own, so use that rather than converting it yourself. Rounding can shift the last figure.

A few things the table shows

Carp get one line on the list, whatever the coat, and a mirror holds it. Crucians sit on a line of their own because they're a separate species. The types of carp guide shows why.

Several records are recent. The pike, eel, crucian and wels records all date from 2024, and the barbel from 2025. Others have stood a long time: the tench and rudd records are from 2001.

A shared record means two fish of exactly the same weight. Perch and rudd both have one, and roach has two fish caught 18 years apart.

How the records compare with an ordinary fish

Record fish are far outside the usual run. The Wildlife Trusts give a perch's weight as up to 2.8 kg, close to the record itself. The same source puts tench at up to 6 kg, and the record is 6.899 kg. The pike profile gives weights of up to 35 kg, well above the British record of 21.46 kg.

The gap is bigger for bream. The Canal & River Trust gives a typical canal bream as 1 to 5lb, and the record is over 22lb. For barbel, the Angling Trust puts most fish at 3 to 6lb, with big specimens at 15lb or more.

How a record is claimed

A claim starts with the captor, not the committee. Its 2023 update asks anyone with a possible record to get in touch with the secretary, based at the Angling Trust, straight away. The secretary takes the details down and explains the next steps.

Weigh the fish carefully, keep it in good condition and get the call made. Don't wait until the end of the session. Our biggest carp guide covers weighing a big fish properly.

Which fish qualify

The same update sets out which fish qualify. The coarse list covers native species and European species already established in Britain. Carp and crucians both qualify on that rule, having been in Britain for more than a thousand years.

The update also reopened the wels catfish list to new claims. That's why a 2024 wels of over 150lb now sits on the list.

Why some famous fish aren't on it

Nothing goes on the list until the committee has a claim in front of it and agrees to it. Plenty of big fish are reported in the angling press and never claimed. Some captors would rather keep a water quiet than put it on an official record.

So a bigger fish in a headline isn't the record until the committee says it is. Treat any weight you read elsewhere as a claim, not a record, until it appears on the committee's own list.

Records and fish welfare

A claim isn't worth a fish that doesn't swim away. Keep it on a wet mat, low to the ground, and set the scales up before it's landed. Angling Times has the full handling advice, and our biggest carp guide walks through a big-fish weigh-in. A fish that goes back healthy can be caught again. By you, or by the next angler.

Game and sea records

This page covers the coarse list. The committee keeps game and sea lists too, also published through the Angling Trust. It keeps two brown trout records: one for sea trout, which go to sea, and one for brown trout that don't.

The sea list is changing too. The 2023 update says some shark records will be measured by length only, with the fish measured while it's still in the water.

Your own PB

Very few of us will ever trouble the list. A PB still deserves more than a phone gallery. Print the photo as it is, or see it in a house style first. Our catch photo guide helps you get a shot worth printing, and our coarse fish prints show each species as a plate. A PB is personal. Treat it that way, whatever the weight.

Written by Craig Fearn, Scale & Fin. Last updated 12 October 2026.

Craig Fearn runs Scale & Fin, a UK studio that prints anglers' catch photos and fish art to order. He writes the guides here, and every fact in them links to the body that published it.