World's best haul of carp

A British angler has secured the world’s biggest haul of carp with two fish over 90lb and an 87-pounder in the same session.

Warren Harrison’s haul included mirrors of 94lb and 87lb, plus a new living world-record common of 90lb. He also landed seven 50-pounders and a 70lb mirror.

The 52-year-old company owner achieved the astonishing feat during a trip to the once-secretive Euro Aqua in Hungary. The lake, which produced a world-record 101lb mirror in 2012, has only been open to UK anglers since late last year.

Warren and angling partner Dave Treasure set out for a big hit and baited with huge amounts of boilies, particles and pellets. Between them they deposited 700kg of bait into the 27-acre venue and caught an average of more than six fish a day during their two-week session.

Manchester angler Warren, whose previous pb was a 78lb common from France’s Rainbow Lake, ended up with 58 fish in total. Dave’s finally tally of 63 fish included three seventies to 76lb and four sixties.

“It’s like nothing else I’ve seen before,” said Warren, who has fished in Europe for 20 years, “the fish are just eating machines.

“On the first day we had 10 fish between us and they just kept coming. At one point, Dave was looking at our list and said ‘we are on 99 fish, we only need one more for 100’, and half an hour later the rod ripped off with the 90lb common.

“It took 25 minutes to land and it was just so long – too big for the 42ins net. The margins are 10ft deep and the fish stay so deep until you eventually see some swirls of their tails – and when they surface, your eyes pop out!”

The big common was caught at 78lb last November and Warren is convinced all the stock will continue growing. He said: “They look like young fish and are in great condition, so I’m sure they will only get bigger.”

Remarkably, Warren fished British-style tactics at 90 yards with 15lb line straight through to 4oz leads and snowman rigs using size 4 and 6 hooks. His end tackle was all made by Avid and he baited with Sonubaits Code Red boilies, Cutting Edge particles and pellets from Carp Fever in Droylsden.

“I’m over the moon,” he said, “I’m still not quite sure what I’ve done!”

SESSION IN NUMBERS
121: total fish caught by Dave and Warren in two weeks
700: kilos of bait used by the pair
60: number of fish over 40lb banked by Dave and Warren
27: hours it took them to drive home
5: tonnes of bait added to the lake by the owner during the fortnight
1: number of times Warren fell in while striking a bite