Brit Catches 'World's Biggest Carp' In Thailand Weighing A Whopping 232lbs

A Brit has caught the biggest carp in the world; that's to say, he has broken the record for the biggest carp ever caught - who knows if there's an even bigger monster lurking in the waters somewhere.

It would have to be absolutely massive though, as John Harvey's catch weighed in at a whopping 232lbs, or 16-and-a-half stone, or 105kg... or one really big bloke.

John Harvey

The 42-year-old, from Westleigh, Devon, spent 80 minutes reeling in the beast, breaking the previous world record set for a Siamese carp by 10lbs.

So now is surely the time for Mr Harvey to get 'Carp Diem' tattooed on his casting arm, or perhaps on the small of his back if he's feeling a bit risque. He could even get it done in Thai, seeing as though he caught the behemoth in Thailand, where has lived for the past 14 years.

Mr Harvey said he immediately knew it was a big one as he fished at Palm Tree Lagoon in Chedi Hak last month, adding that the pictures do not truly convey the sheer size of it.

Speaking to Devon Live, he said: "It was a reasonably quiet day for fishing. Then, at around 4.30pm the cart rod screened off so I ran over to the rod, and straight away felt it was a really big fish. I've done fishing for a while now and you can tell if it's big or not from the bait.

"It was very slow, hard, heavy fish. I had to hang on to it for one hour 20 minutes which was pretty nerve-racking. It might seem a while but sometimes it can be four or five hours stood there holding the rod.

"It was amazing. I've never caught a carp that weighed over 100lbs before. It was absolutely enormous, the pictures do not do it justice at all."

John Harvey

I dunno, looks absolutely enormous from where I'm sitting.

But while Mr Harvey - who lives in Pattaya on Thailand's eastern Gulf coast - may now be a record-holder, he said he's never been particularly arsed about the size of the fish he catches.

He said: "I just want to go out there and enjoy it. People travel the world trying to catch the biggest fish but that takes the fun out of it."

Topics: uk news, fishing, Animals

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey