THE World carp record of 108 lb (pictured below) has risen by nearly 5 lb.... to an incredible 112 lb 14 oz (51.2 kg) at Euro Aqua in Hungary.
The immense new World carp record catch was made by Dutchman Michel Schoenmakers on Friday, November 23, 2018.
More details will follow here soon, and also in print/digital form soon in Angler’s Mail weekly magazine, to which you can subscribe here now at a fantastic offer price.
Michel’s leviathan came from the incredible Euro Aqua fishery in Hungary which has dominated mega carp headlines in recent years.
His catch lifts the bar by a considerable margin and it is the first carp capture anywhere in the World to pull the scales down to the 50 kg mark.
His colossal carp is seen here in a picture and video posted by Euro Aqua on its Facebook page.
Posted by Euro-Aqua on Friday, November 23, 2018
Posted by Euro-Aqua on Friday, November 23, 2018
The World carp record had stood for the past two years at just under that magic ’50’ mark at 49 kg (108 lb).
The captor of that previous World carp record travelled from the neighbouring country of Austria, and it was his first session on Euro Aqua.
Marco Eichner made fast work of the venue’s incredible stock, and he struck lucky with the historic 108 lb catch on Saturday, October 21, 2017.
Shortly after that catch, Marco told Angler’s Mail: “I arrived at the lake and perfect autumn weather greeted me with 20 degrees outside and 14 degrees water temperature.
“Every day I fed ten kilograms and five kilos of boilies on an area of ten square metres at a distance of 50 metres.
“As bait I used a 20 mm boilie of the brand MM-baitservice, which starts working quickly in the water.
“My 35 cm long leader with size 6 hooks I fished behind an 121 gram heavy inline lead.
“The plan was to offer this about five metres away from the feeding place at a depth of three metres in order to catch as large a carp as possible.”
‘Golden tactics’ for World carp record
“The tactics turned out to be golden,” continued Marco.
“I got a timid bite, and my alarm beeped three times. I picked up the rod and started a battle of about ten minutes.
“The big fish moved quietly, but finally the landing succeeded. When the carp lay in the net, we could not believe our eyes and immediately called for the owner Alexander Horvath.
“When weighed the huge carp went an incredible 49 kg on the scale, a world record. This was the trip of my life!” exclaimed the soldier from Vienna.
Marco is seen below in a video, cradling the immense bulk of the catch.
The fishery attracts controversy by its practice of feeding its fish a vast quantity of maize and boilies to fatten them up for the anglers.
Manchester’s Warren Harrison used to be a regular visitor to Euro Aqua, and landed on of the best UK overseas caught carp there of 101 lb 8 oz.
He says some of the biggest carp have died but there’s still plenty of big fish in there.
Warren explained: “The owner puts in up to 8 tonnes of feed a week and the fish pack on the weight.
“One or two people I know have questioned this weight but I’ve seen the video and pictures and it is massive with a huge stomach so I quite believe it.
“I know the fish I caught 18 months ago at 101 lb 8 oz has died since as have a few of the other giants there, but there are others to come through.
“I recognise the fish as one that was caught the day after mine by a Dutch guy called Carlo which went 90 lb so it has packed on 18 lb since I saw it.
“These highly fed fish don’t seem to live as long as others left to grow naturally so the practice is controversial, but it is magnificent fishing, although far from cheap –1,500 Euros for a week including bait and cooked breakfast,” he added.
Euro Aqua’s World carp record pedigree
The World carp record, before the 108 lb catch, was held by a different fish scaling 105 lb 13 oz (48 kg). This was 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, made back 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 Horvath, and Alexander bought it back in the mid-1990s as a retreat for friends and family, later forming an angling club for fish it.
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 initially a surprise to many anglers.
But it was not a shock to those dedicated 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. They could go on to become the biggest living heavyweights.
An official claim to the title was pledged after Holme Fen’s Captain Jack was landed at 68 lb 8 oz.
But that fish too has yet to be recognised by the British Record Fish Committee.
And finally, check out the shock fish above. Scaling an incredible 83 lb it was landed at Kent’s awesome Wingham Fishery.
It was considered to be in too poor health to be claimed as a British record…but is the heaviest carp caught and put on the scales in this country. By far!
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