The largest known grass carp to ever have been banked from the UK has been caught by angler Kane Hammond, weighing a colossal 57lb 4oz. While there is currently no official record for the species, the biggest fish that has been reported previously was a 56lb 2oz giant caught back in 2023 by Alan Cooper at 56lb 2oz from Little Moulsham Lake in Yateley, a lake famed for its huge grass carp.
Despite many believing this 'record' would be broken again here, Kane eclipsed the fish caught by Alan at St George's Lake in Shepperton. In another twist, this was actually his first visit to the venue after he was invited along on a guest session by his friend Ben, with the fish in question having been uncaught for several years.
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"While we settled in for the night, Ben showed me a video of a huge grassie he’d spotted in the snags and said it was well over 50lb! He also told me it hadn't been caught for seven years and it’s the only one in the lake," Kane told us.
"When it was last out it was 46lb and I said to him at the time, I felt the that the best way to catch it would probably be to target it by fishing on the surface," he added.
After a quiet night, the pair were greeted by much better weather, with the sun already hot early in the day. With that, Kane noticed a few fish started to appear on the surface to take advantage of the sunlight on their backs, and he made the decision to move round to the snag where Ben had watched the huge grassie on previous sessions.
"We began feeding some mixers in that particular area and it wasn't long before we had multiple carp taking baits confidently off the surface," he recalled.
"It wasn't long after casting out that I hooked into a good fish, which felt heavy from the moment I connected with it. As the fish came into view it left us both in shock, never in a million years did I expect to see the flank of a 4ft+ grass carp some 10 foot down," he said.
Upon seeing the carp turning in the clear water, it dawned on the pair what Kane actually had on the end of his line. After a nerve-wracking 20-minute battle, he managed to tease the fish towards the net cord where Ben was patiently waiting to scoop it up, but as is often the case, the grass carp was unwilling to come quietly and it took three attempts to bundle the fish into the net.
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"We couldn't believe it and after calming down, we called over the lake owners and a few of the other members who were all keen to finally see this fish on the bank after eight years in hiding."
"Unbelievably it had put on some serious weight in its absence and spun the scales round to 57lb 4oz, it was hard to comprehend the size of it," he concluded.
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