It's a whopper! Angler catches four-stone 'biggest carp in Britain'

A young angler has caught the biggest living carp in Britain – which weighed in at a whopping FOUR STONE and took ten minutes to reel in.

Chris Holland, 23, snared the whopper, who is called Jonah, at RH Fisheries lake in Badger, near Bridgnorth, Shrops.

The gigantic fish, which tantalises anglers at the Avenue Pool, weighed in at an incredible 61lbs 8oz (27.9kg) – which is four stone and five pounds.

Experts believe Jonah is the largest carp currently living in Britain and keen angler Chris said he had become obsessed with catching the beast.

Chris, from Leigh, Lancs., said: 'I had become a little obsessed about him over recent weeks.

'At about 1.15pm, on April 24, I was fishing on the bottom of the pool and something took my bait.

'I knew it was big and I was playing him when I saw him roll. When I saw that his shoulders were lighter coloured that the rest of him I knew it was Jonah.

'The adrenaline was really going and I knew I had to be patient. It took about 10 minutes to land him.'

The enormous carp, who weighed the same as a nine-year-old child and had to be landed in an extra large net, was carefully placed back into the pool after being weighed.



Rob Hales, who runs the fishery, said although Jonah was the biggest fish currently living Britain, he was still short of the UK record - which stands at 67lbs 12oz (30.7kg).

He said: 'We reduce the number of fish in the pools, which means those that remain can get larger.

'They are really hard to catch.

'In the UK there are only five or six that are more than 60lbs, so it’s quite a rare catch.'