Oliver writes himself into record books at Barlow Country Club

Proud Oliver shows off his monster catch.

Proud Oliver caught a 42lb grass carp to become the club’s new record holder.

The whopper, now known as the ‘Queen of Barlow, is also believed to be one of the largest, if not the largest in the county, and is also around 12lb shy of the current UK record for the largest grass carp.

Oliver said: ““At just 17 years old, I believe I have caught the fish of a life time, with most anglers never land a fish of this size.

The 42lb grass carp is a record-breaker.

“I hope this will be the first of many monster fish I catch, and not my only and final encounter with the Queen of Barlow.

“After waiting for just over an hour with a piece of bread floating on the surface of the pond, the beast took the bait at roughly 8:10pm beginning what would usually commence a large battle with the fish that could span up to an hour.

“However with the extreme heat on that particular day the fish had grown tired quickly so only took five minutes from setting the hook to bringing the fish to the bank.

“A moment I recall from bringing the fish in, was my Dad (Andy) telling my younger brother (George) to grab the closest landing net (that being the smallest) to scoop the fish into before actually seeing the specimen.

“Immediately after he saw the monster surface from the depths, he ordered my brother to sprint to fetch our largest net having a width of 3ft which was only just large enough to net the fish with the other being far too small.

“As soon as we landed the fish we had three successful attempts at weighing it, all of which the readings fluctuated between 40lb to 42lb and took all three of us to raise the fish safely off the mat and prevent any injury to her.

“We estimated her measurements at over 3ft long, 12" deep and 10" wide. Soon after weighing we were joined by the owner of BCC and the Fishery Baliff,, who quickly helped me take some photos with the fish before wading into the pond alongside me to safely deliver her back to her home."

The fish was caught on 10lb main line with a 5lb hooklength, bubble float and a piece of bread floating on the waters surface.