From memory, Tim Paisley (probably in one of his earlier writings) classed a big carp as 25lb+. Terry Hearn classes a big carp as 35+. So what would you class as 'big'?

Personally, I'd go with 25+ as big, 30+ is huge and 40+ is a dream for most of us, but I don't think the 'magical' 20lb barrier (as it used to be called) is applicable now.

Whadya reckon?

10LB plus.........

Depends how big the average size is in the water you are fishing!!

I totally agree. It's a sad day when someone no longer considers a twenty pound carp to be a big one. A fifteen pounder could equally be considered to be a big fish on some waters.

A big carp in my preference is a personal matter it is whatever makes you happy.

"I don't think the 'magical' 20lb barrier (as it used to be called) is applicable now."

It is if you are yet to catch a twenty mate!

Personally I take a 20lb carp to be a big carp. But I suppose it's all relative to your P.B.

the wife say's am BIG

JDB ECHO

here in the nw,i think 20lb is still applicable...

The season i've been having if it moves the danglers,bleeps the alarm and i have to put a net under it,

IT'S BIG.

I`ll go with the 25+,30`s still thin on the ground around our parts.

My Pb is 14lb but I'd still class a 10lb plus fish as a big fish.

Thats probably what most Scottish anglers would go by as well I would think

Well said its what youre happy with that counts ..,
you work your way up and be happy with your fishing.,,
thing is with carp fishing nowadays there is a lot of waters where you can go and have a chance of a 20 ......
i still class a 20 up north as a good catch ..
good luck
keep going..,/

Totally dependent on the water... One lake I fish to be classed as 'big' (whatever that is) it needs to be a good 30+ (say 33+) others it's low to mid twenties..If I lived further north... very subjective question and dependent on the anglers experience and location.. and totally irrelevant anyway.. if it makes you smile.. it's a nice fish.. and I smile when any carp hits the spreaderblock!!

Obviously you can't catch what isn't in the water you're fishing. What I was getting at is, what would you consider to be 'big' on a national scale, considering that the carp record is now over 60lbs?

Kev Babij's 27lb+ pike is, relative to the number of pike of that weight, more of an achievement than a 30lb carp IMO. Congrats to Kev on that one, my pike pb of 22.15 is well past it's use by date:D

For sure, a 20lb carp is good fish but I don't think they're a rarity for most users of this forum. Thirties are a different matter. Then you get into the equivalent of a 2lb roach etc., not easy.

Like u say it depends on where u are fishin and so forth ,,
I fish a north west water where any time it could do a north west common record it has done it before ,,,
but as i have said it is what u need out of youre fishin ,,,
fishing a water where 6 fish a year is a result ,isnt for everyone ,,As i have said i still think a 20 is a result for up here..
enjoy your carping ,then move on to hard waters ...
good luck

I agree with those that say BIG has to be in relation to the water that you are fishing. Also on the pleasure side i think the FIGHT matters and i would rather catch a 13 pounder that gives me all sorts of grief on the way in than a 30 pound slab that just rolls in. And i am not insinuating that big fish just roll in because they don't.

35+ is big. 20+ is big if the place is full of pasties that max out at 25+.

50+ is big on the continient.

The Essex Man.

Big? or Small?
Everyone is worth catching, not only to see how they have matured, when you catch them again.

What does size matter? It depends on the water in question.

First question is how are we defining big. Are we saying big is a fish that stands out in the angling magazines? The original question appeared to be saying 'nationally' so if we assume fish in the mags, Chris is spot on. 35lb + is big.

Although I remember a guy (Alan Downey??? - dark hair and beard) who showed slides of 30's at a conference in the 80's and thinking wow....

However 'How big is big' is the piece of string question. A 5lb carp is big compared to the gudgeon I caught when I started fishing. A 5lb carp on light tackle is massive compared to a 4oz roach. A 35lb carp is small compared to a 200lb tarpon or 80lb cat.

One water I fish has loads of single figure / low double carp but only one big one at 28lb. What is big in there? I think a double as I wade through 20 singles to catch one - and on pound and a quarter test it is great fun compared to a 25+ on 3lb test.

Big is big to the guy holding the rod....

Good question Steve, as most have said, it must be all down to the water concerned. Those of us with long memories will always think that a twenty is a good fish, I remember Richard Walker saying (concerning metrication) that a 9.something kilo carp has not got that magic sound to it as a 20lb carp has. It was in Tim's book that he stated he classed over25 was a 'Big Carp' I wonder what he would class as big now?
I think we all agree though, if it was all just about catching 'Big Carp' the magic perhaps wouldn't be there.

Well said mate,a big fish to me is a 20 because i am yet to catch one.But they will have hard work avoiding me this year when i finally get out.

I have to agree with what a lot of lads have said, but size to me is not really an issue I simply fish for Carp and the size does not matter. I have just joined a syndicate but not because of the size of the fish but because I can go when I want without the mad rush from work to try and get a swim and be in nice surroundings which are secure. I have never caught a 20 so although i have beeen fishing for 20 years I have still got this pleasure to come.I have seen instant carpers catching bigger fish than my pb and just put them back moaning that its not a 20 , if that day comes for me i will certainly pack it all in.

If it gives you pleasure, and makes you happy. Then it is big enough .

karen we are talking about fishing here not cliff
but i agree with your sentiments whole heartedly

Surley how big is big depends where your at in your carp fishing stage,10 years ago a twenty to me was a monster as i,d not caught one but today not so,things have progressed so much no one seems to get that excited over a 20,a shame but true,in todays fish size i would say a 35 plus is a big fish,and i'm a guy who has carp fished in yorkshire for the past 15 years not the lump capital of the uk but even our average size of carp i would say is over 20 pounds,i mean theres 5 or 6 waters now that give you a chance of a forty in my neck of the woods,take it back a few years and i would have been saying that about thirties not fortys..gus:) ..

Alan Downey. There's a name from the past. Last I heard fishing Henlow and caught a whopper (cica 1985). Big is difficult to define. It means different things to different people at different times.(Phew), still with me (good). Met a guy this morning (24/02/02) who had taken a 15Ib Mirror. Not huge, but taken from a water that is proving dificult to all but 1 person it would seem. He was just pleased to have had some action, size didn't realy matter. The man has a ticket to Savay (just over the road) but had opted to fish a smaller water for smaller fish. Class I reckon!!!!

I have a water less than 10 mins drive from where I live where you can catch 20-30 carp, between 5 and 12lb, in a day if you fish it right (and it's not a commercial, artificially stocked water), but I don't enjoy that sort of fishing now.

I like my fishing to be a challenge, rather than just piling a load of bait in any swim and expecting to get a run every 20 mins, which many new carpers seem to.

Anyway, I fully appreciate that carp don't get as big oop north and that the relative merit of each carp can only be judged (not that it needs to be) on the size to which the carp grow in that particular water.

However, what I was getting at is that a 20lb carp is now under one third of the british record. So it's roughly equivalent to, say, a 6lb bream, a 3lb chub, a 1.5lb roach or a 16lb pike. Not exactly remarkable smecimens are they? Particularly if you consider that specimen weights are IMO 10lb for bream, 6 for chub, 2 for roach and 20 for pike.

Either way, as AndyP has said, if we were purely out there to catch the biggies we'd miss out on a lot. Those beautiful summer dawns aren't a long way away now.

p.s Who made this page all scrolly? lol

Mark C,
Superb attitude mate, you will be enjoying Carping long after the instant Carpers have got bored, missed the point & packed it all in!

I have just recently caught my first twenty after 20yrs Carp fishing, but what really mattered was the fact that it was caught from a local water which definately could not be classed as easy.

Any capture there is a reason to celebrate, they are beautiful fish & this particular fishes weight was merely the icing on the cake.

I agree with jonah,A twenty in the north is still a good fish to catch.Anglers who have caught 20's,30's & 40's may scoff at what i'm writing.But alot of anglers myself included may spend season after season wading through the pasties in search of that magical twenty.but hey why worry,i'm more than enjoying myself trying.

as has been said on here already its all relative to where you are fishing not what you have caught in the past from eleswhere and not just with carp but all fish.

the important thing is to enjoy them all cos you may never catch another.

Mrs Noddy owe me some washing cos I laughed so much.

Crafty where you are fishing the boys there just love carp in general but was it puffa jacket man or the essex carp magician who caught

well when I'm fishing a club match anything from 8lb plus is big aspecially on the pole but when i'm out doing this lark 20lb plus has got to be big especially up here in the north

I reckon 6 inches is big enough for any woman(lol)well thats what i tell the missus,yeh its definately horses for courses and all that,ie where you fish,norf or sarf etc,you could do a graph and plan it out john o groats to lands end and i bet when you put in that regions best fish,it will be a steady rise upwards the further sarf you get.With me or am i rambling,i know what i mean anyway.
(RICKETTS FOR ENGLAND)