Ash Hegarty with the giant carp he caught at Euro Aqua Lake in Hungary in a catch hailed as a world record. (Courtesy of Ash Hegarty via SWNS)
By James Connolly
An angler has reeled in a monstrous 114-pound carp in a catch hailed as a new world record.
Ash Hegarty, 32, landed the whopping 52-kilogram (114-pound, 10-ounce) beast after traveling 1,300 miles to a lake famous for its enormous fish.
The fisherman was left stunned when the giant carp took his bait after the lake’s owner made an eerie prediction about what he would catch.
Ash said: “It was crazy. My phone has been ringing nonstop since the catch.
“The carp was so big that my brother had to scoop it up three times in the net.
“I thought, what the hell is that? I’ve never seen something like that in my life.”
He had traveled to Euro Aqua Lake in Hungary with his older brother Nigel, 44, hoping to land a whopper.
The fisherman was left stunned when the giant carp took his bait after the lake's owner made an eerie prediction about what he would catch. (Courtesy of Ash Hegarty via SWNS)
But the pair could never have imagined they would end up making angling history when a monster carp named Angelina took the bait.
The extraordinary catch came after lake owner Michel made an unusual prediction.
Ash said: “When we got to our peg, Michel told us we were going to catch a ‘big mamma.’
“He told us he could predict it — that we were going to catch a big fish with a name beginning with an ‘A.’”
The angler initially dismissed the prediction but admitted he had a strange feeling about the trip.
He said: “As soon as you go to a place like that, you get a mad feeling — excitement, nerves, butterflies.”
(Courtesy of Ash Hegarty via SWNS)
A couple of days in to the trip, Ash had already landed several enormous carp and felt everything was falling perfectly into place.
He said: “The atmosphere felt mad with excitement.
“Everything was going my way, I was getting every rod bang on. Something strange was happening.”
Exhausted after just two hours of sleep the previous night, Ash finally decided to grab a nap.
But as he was about to roll over, his fishing alarm suddenly sounded.
One of his six rods had hooked something enormous.
And when the brothers finally brought the monster to the surface, they could scarcely believe its size.
Ash said: “The only way I could describe it was like a car tire in my net.”
(Courtesy of Ash Hegarty via SWNS)
Of the six rods Ash had positioned in the water, the giant fish had taken the bait on the only one bearing a treasured photograph of his late father.
The key ring carried the only picture Ash has of his dad, who died three years ago, with his young son.
The brothers’ father had introduced them to fishing as children, and the hobby has remained a huge part of their lives ever since.
Ash said: “I wish I could have rang my dad and told him that his son is a world record holder.”
Fellow anglers celebrated the astonishing catch with champagne.
Ash, who runs a competition site with his brother, said: “The feeling was indescribable.
“It was just meant to be.”