Anglers are in mourning after Britain’s biggest carp Two Tone was found dead in Conningbrook Lake near Ashford.

The 45-year-old monster fish, who weighed 67lb 14oz the last time it was caught, was discovered floating on the surface of the lake behind the Julie Rose Stadium off Willesborough Road on Saturday morning.

Chris Logsdon, the manager of Mid Kent Fisheries which runs the lake, said: “We had a phone call from some guys at about nine or 10 o’clock to say they had seen a fish floating on the water and they thought it might be Two Tone.

“Me and my son Chris junior went down there and confirmed it was him.

"We’ve put him in the freezer until we bury him at the weekend.”

Mr Logsdon, 62, who set up the fishery business nearly 20 years ago, said the fish first lived at the Mill Pond lake in Faversham before being moved to Ashford in the 1980s.

He said: “It was first caught in about 1993. It was a big fish then.

"It weighed 30lbs, then 40lbs, then 50lbs. It just kept growing. It’s never been beaten.

"It’s held the record and I think it will be a long time before a British fish beats it.”

“It didn’t come out of the water that often. Maybe once or twice a year. It was just a special creature.

"I don’t like to use the phrase freak of nature but it was certainly a lot bigger than the other fish.

“It’s a loss for all of us. Not in financial terms because if anything he cost us money, as we had to limit the number of people who fished there to protect it, but in terms that it was a very special creature.

“It was a national treasure really. A lot of friendships have been formed through him over the years and I’m sure he’s caused a few divorces.”

Mr Logsdon think that the mirror carp died from old age despite rumours about it being caught in fishing lines.

He said: “A few people have been spreading rumours that it was caught in a line but it definitely died of natural causes.

"There were no blemishes or ulcers. It was a very cold winter, a warm spring and a hot summer. It was just too much for the fish.”

It was known as Two Tone because of its colouration but also had the nickname “marriage wrecker” after it was blamed for the breakdown of four anglers’ marriages.

Welder John Bird, 29, of Royds Road, spent eight years trying to catch Two Tone before hauling him to shore in 2008.

He said: “It’s obviously bad news. When I heard I was quite gutted for a lot of my friends who were down there still trying to catch it.

“It’s the end of an era really. He was a bit of a one off fish. I feel very privileged to be one of the few who caught him, especially now that he’s gone.”

Another angler, Lee Jackson, even wrote a book called Just for the Record; My Quest for Two Tone, based on his six year pursuit of the fish.

There will be a burial service and the installation of a memorial plaque at the stadium side of the lake from 11am on Sunday.