The World carp record has risen to 108 lb (49 kg) at Euro Aqua in Hungary, Angler's Mail can reveal. The fish is seen here in a celebratory splash moment, before being returned to the venue.
The World carp record captor travelled from neighbouring country of Austria, for his first trip to Euro Aqua. The incredible fishery has dominated mega carp headlines in recent years.
The captor is seen below in a video, cradling the immense bulk of the catch he made on Saturday, October 21, 2017.
The World carp record was previously held by a different fish scaling 105 lb 13 oz (48 kg) – also caught at Euro Aqua in Hungary.
Thomas Krist from the Czech Republic was the new World carp record holder with that fish, pictured below. His catch, in 2015, added over 4 lb to the existing record.
Thomas Krist (right) cradles the previous record carp that scaled a staggering 48 kg – which converts to 105 lb 13 oz. He’s seen with the owner of Euro Aqua in Hungary.
Euro Aqua burst onto the wider big fish scene three years ago, on June 2, 2012, when Roman Hanke made an amazing 101 lb 4 oz catch (below). Since then, as we reported, many British anglers have joined the monster-seekers at this incredible water.
Roman Hanke gives a full view of his 101 lb World record carp.
The impressive commercially-run 11.3-hectare (28-acre) Aqua Lake is a former gravel pit near the truly massive (146,500-acre) Lake Balaton.
Well maintained Euro Aqua fishery holds many more giant carp, plus catfish, zander and pike, and packages can be booked to fish there.
It’s run by a couple Alexander and Susan, and Alexander bought it back in the mid-1990s as a retreat for friends and family, later forming an angling club for fish it. Large amounts of feed go into the lake, promoting growth.
World carp record background
The biggest carp landed from France was 100 lb 8 oz, a common carp that has since died.
The rise of the lake to No.1 status for the World’s biggest carp, outshining the many rich venues in France in particular, was a surprise to many anglers. But not to those big carp hunters who were really in the know.
Euro expert Steve Briggs, said after the 101-pounder was landed: ‘The Euro Aqua lake has been under the radar as far as most English anglers are concerned but I’ve certainly known about it for the last three or four years.
‘It’s not the first big fish to be caught from there in fact it holds a great deal of very large carp, easily as many as any of the known French waters and so it’s no great surprise really that the first 100 lb carp came from there.”
As Angler’s Mail has reported, giant carp in Graviers, Abbey Lakes and Rainbow Lake are amongst those with known carp that have nudged up towards 100 lb, along with Keltcherhoef in Belgium.
UK bests well short of World carp record
Britain does not have any carp anywhere near the peak weights achieved in many European nations.
The current British carp record belongs to a 68 lb 1 oz giant that sadly died earlier this year.
That much-admired fish was known as The Parrot, a rarely caught mirror carp lurking in Wasing Estate’s Cranwells Lake in Berkshire.
After it took the official title, The Parrot was challenged at the top by two bigger fish. First, and most notably, came the challenge from Shropshire super-heavyweight Big Rig which was refused record status despite weighing more.
Big Rig was controversially fed up before being released into The Avenue, one of the RH Fisheries waters.
It too died during the summer of 2017, but the venue still holds mega fish including Tarka the common carp, caught recently at a new high of 64 lb – the biggest for a common carp in Britain.
At least one huge living carp at Holme Fen, Cambridgeshire, has now grown over the official record and a claim from there now looks likely.
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