The term "Specimen fish" is an old one that goes back to the days when a big fish was called a "Glass case specimen".
But what IS a specimen fish? In the old days of the 60s specimen groups we tended to judge a specimen fish as being half the record weight. It was an aim of specimen hunters to have caught a 2 lbs roach, 2 1/2 lb perch, 7 lb bream, 5 lb tench, 20 lb pike, 20 lb carp, 4lb eel, 1/2lb dace, 5 lb chub, 7lb barbel, 2lb rudd, 2lb crucian, 2 1/2lb grayling and a 3lb brown trout. With the exception of carp, I achieved all these figures and more by the age of 22.