What started off as a slow day of ice fishing for pike on the Housatonic River turned into a potential world record catch for first-time ice fisherman Andrew Plumridge. While on a guided trip with Charter the Berkshires captain and owner Paul Tawczynski, the group had just switched tactics to jigging and picked up a few small perch when something much larger hit. Realizing the bigger fish was suspended in the water column, Tawczynski switched to a 1/8-oz rainbow pattern PK Flutterfish, and Plumridge eventually hooked up, bringing the big carp to the surface.

“It took me 6 or 7 tries to get the fish through the 8-inch hole, which had refrozen during the day. My arms were all cut up trying to gill the fish.” Tawczynski said when reached by phone this morning.

“We didn’t realize it was a world record at first, but we were contacted by the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame last night and were told we had the new [catch and release] ice fishing world record for carp.”

“The process takes 2-4 weeks to verify, but if everything checks out, then it will be [the new record] for ice fishing catch and release,” added Kathy Polich, business manager for the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.

The carp was weighed and measured on a certified scale with an official size of 35 3/4″ long and 32 pounds, 2 ounces. Following the measurement, the carp was live released.

For more information on the world-record catch and ice fishing the Housatonic River, check out ChartertheBerkshires.com.