West Virginia lakes and streams continue to produce both trophy-sized game fish and record catches. On Saturday, May 7, Ayden Minick of Mt. Pleasant, PA, caught and released a new state record common carp while fishing from the bank of Summersville Lake in Nicholas County.

 

Minick’s record fish was 41.2 inches long and weighed 45.2 pounds. The trophy carp surpassed the previous West Virginia length record of 41.0 inches caught in 1988 by Charles Cook at Stonecoal Lake. However, Minick’s fish did not beat the current weight record of 47.0 pounds caught in a Preston County farm pond by Gary Johnson in 1998.

 

The catch was measured by West Virginia Division of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, Aaron Yeager.