No wonder fourteen year old Adam Szepesi is all smiles after getting the better of this 28.35kg (62lb 8oz) smallmouth buffalo carp (Ictiobus bubalus) while fishing Lake Fork, Texas, USA.
Szepesi was fishing with local guide Austin Anderson, and needed 30 minutes to land the fish after it ate the corn he was using for bait. Once landed, the fish was quickly documented and released to fight another day.
If approved, Szepesi’s fish will earn him both the Male Junior IGFA record for the species, as well as the men’s 24kg (50lb) line class record.
The all tackle world smallmouth buffalo carp record stands at 82lb 3oz, a fish caught from Athens Lake, also in Texas, in 1993.
About The Buffalo Carp
The smallmouth buffalo is found in the same general areas of North America as the bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus), and has been introduced into Arizona. It resembles its relative, the bigmouth buffalo, closely in most respects, but can be distinguished by a number of factors. It is generally lighter in colour than other buffalos, having an olive bronze cast. Also the body is somewhat more compressed with a higher arch in the back, and the small, subterminal mouth is almost horizontal instead of slanted, though it protracts downward in typical sucker fashion when the fish is feeding.