A Maryland angler on Saturday reeled a 49-pound common carp from Chesapeake Bay, shattering a record that had stood since 1978.
Logan Kurhmann, 24, was targeting bass in the Susquehanna Flats area when the massive carp struck the plastic worm he had been casting.
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“We’ve seen some really big ones up in the Flats but we’ve never seen one this big,” Kurhmann told the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which announced the new record on Tuesday. “The bass fishing wasn’t great but this made my week.”
Kuhrmann’s fish was weighed on a certified scale at a nearby bait and tackle shop, where the catch was verified by a DNR biologist.
The previous record of 44.4 pounds was established by an angler named Jimmy Lake at Morgantown Beach in 1978.
Maryland lists state records under several divisions. Kurhmann’s record is in the Chesapeake Division. (Maryland also keeps carp records under a Non-tidal division.)
For the sake of comparison, the all-tackle world record for common carp stands at 75 pounds, 11 ounces. That fish was caught at Lac de St. Cassien, France, in 1987.
–Image courtesy of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources
