100-pound lake monster caught by angler in Hungary. See the potential world record
To seasoned anglers, patience on the water is a big part of fishing.
You might have a line in the water for hours before your first nibble, and even longer before landing a fish.
For one angler in Hungary, his patience paid off with a potentially world record-breaking catch.
Kacper Stępień, an amateur fisherman from Kraków, Poland, traveled to Hungary to fish Euro Aqua Lake, he said in a Sept. 16 Facebook post.
The weather on the lake was testy, Stępień said, with temperatures of 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade on day one, but down to the high 40s by day three.
There was a constant wind that made Stępień say his tent felt like a house of cards, and the rain was heavy. Despite the conditions, Stępień said he felt like something was pushing him to keep going and that his luck would turn.
He was right.
As he was releasing a 77-pound fish back into the water, one of his other rods suddenly took off with a large fish on the other end, Stępień told Angling Times.
Stępień said reeling in the fish was an “epic battle,” but soon a common carp was before him in his landing net, the outlet reported.
“I had tears in my eyes when I landed the fish. It was huge, and it made my dreams come true. This is a fish I’ve always wanted to catch, and to finally have my moment with it is something I will never forget,” he told the outlet.
The monster carp weighed 47.4 kilograms, or about 105 pounds, Stępień said on Facebook.
The largest common carp ever caught in the “all-tackle” line class weighed a measly 75 pounds, 11 ounces in comparison, according to records maintained by the International Game and Fish Association.
The record fish was caught in May 1987 in Lac de St. Cassien, France, according to the association.
Though Stępień’s catch blows the world record out of the water, he has to submit his catch to the association for his record to be considered.
It’s a lengthy process, Outdoor Life reported, and requires IGFA judges to examine the catch in intense detail, including all the equipment used and speaking with anyone who witnessed the landing of the fish.
The carp also can’t have been caught from “hatchery waters, sanctuaries or small bodies of water that are stocked with fish for commercial purposes,” of which Euro Aqua may qualify, thereby disqualifying Stępień from the official world record, according to Outdoor Life.
Stępień didn’t say online whether he would be chasing the record, but his fishing trip was successful either way.
By the end of his stay at Euro Aqua, Stępień had landed 108 fish, including 12 that were larger than 60 pounds, he said.
Stępień said the trip will be etched in his memory, and it shows that sometimes the most spectacular moments come out of nowhere.
Common carp, Cyprinus carpio, are widely spread across all continents except Antarctica, and are considered the largest members of the “minnow” family, according to the IGFA. They are close relatives of goldfish, and are sometimes called Asian carp, karp or koi.
Euro Aqua is in Balatonederics, a town in west-central Hungary.
Facebook Translate was used to translate Stępień’s Facebook post.
This story was originally published September 24, 2024 at 4:26 PM with the headline "100-pound lake monster caught by angler in Hungary. See the potential world record."
