Callum Pettit, an 11-year-old from the UK, made headlines when he caught a massive 96lb 10oz common carp—just 4lbs lighter than his own weight—while on a fishing trip in Reims, France, with his father.
His achievement is even more remarkable when compared to the adult record, which stands at 101lbs 6oz, making his catch one of the most impressive in recent history.
Callum’s enormous fish, weighing around 7 stone, is nearly twice the size of his father Stuart’s personal best catch in over 30 years of fishing.
It took Callum 20 minutes to reel in the carp, and due to the murky water, neither he nor his father initially realized the sheer size of the fish. The carp, known as “Big Girl,” was lured in by Callum’s special banoffee-flavored bait.
It wasn’t until Stuart, 40, attempted to lift the fish into their landing net that he realized they had caught one of the largest carp in Europe. As they secured the massive fish, other anglers gathered to witness the incredible moment.
A video captured on Stuart’s GoPro shows Callum’s stunned reaction as he repeatedly exclaims, “That’s massive, dad.”
Stuart, from Ashford, Kent, remarked, “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime fish, and Callum caught it at just 11 years old. Where does he go from here? He has a better chance of winning the lottery than catching a bigger carp than that.”
Callum himself was in disbelief, saying, “I couldn’t believe how big it was, and my arms were really aching afterward.”
Fishing has been a passion for Callum since he was a toddler, and before this record-breaking catch, his biggest fish was a 29lb mirror carp.
The father-son duo had originally planned their trip to France in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed until earlier this month.
The unforgettable moment happened at 6 a.m. when Callum’s rod alarm signaled a bite. The young angler held on as the massive carp, instead of darting around the lake, behaved like a dead weight.
Stuart explained, “With bigger fish, they don’t charge off like smaller ones—they just feel like a heavy load. Callum played the fish for about 20 minutes, slowly reeling it in.”
They only realized the true scale of the catch once the fish was secured in the net. Even then, they initially estimated it to be around 60-70lbs.
The fishery’s owner identified the catch as the famous “Big Girl,” the largest fish Stuart had ever seen. It took both father and son to lift the carp into the weighing sling, and afterward, they weighed Callum himself—discovering he was only 4lbs heavier than his record-breaking catch.
“I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet,” Stuart admitted. “Callum doesn’t quite realize the magnitude of what he has achieved.”
The world record for a carp currently stands at 112lb 14oz, held by Dutch angler Michel Schoenmakers, who caught a mirror carp in Hungary in 2018. Meanwhile, the largest carp ever caught by a British angler is a 105lb 14oz mirror carp, reeled in by Ian Burton at the same lake in 2019.
Callum’s remarkable catch will be remembered as an extraordinary achievement, proving that age is no barrier when it comes to making history in the world of fishing.
