Teen Arrows Wisconsin Record Carp

A recent high school graduate has more to celebrate than his diploma.

Zack Seitz, 18, shot the Wisconsin record carp while bowfishing with a couple buddies May 25 on Long Lake in Fond du Lac County.

Seitz, a native of Cambellsport, Wisc., reeled in a 59-pound common carp measuring 46 inches long with a 32 ½-inch girth, breaking the state alternate method record.

The previous alternate methods -- which include bowfishing and spear -- record was set by a 51-pounder caught by William Hoyt on May 31, 2006, in Lake Geneva.

Seitz shot the monster carp around the dorsal fin at about 11 p.m. from a 14-foot jon boat; he reeled it in about five minutes later. Though there were two smaller carp directly in front of the boat, Seitz spotted the bigger fish out of the corner of his eye, and though it was farther away, he opted to take it. Good thinking.

Once the teens were back on shore, Seitz put the fish in the biggest cooler he could find, filled it with ice and took it to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources office once it reopened after Memorial Day weekend. Fisheries biologist Travis Motl verified the weight and ran a series of tests on the fish, including checking for foreign objects inside it.

The Wisconsin record common carp on rod and reel was a 57-pound, 2-ouncer caught in 1966 at Lake Wisconsin. According to the International Game Fish Association, the world record common carp was a 75-pound, 11-ouncer caught by Leo van der Gugten on May 21, 1987, at Lac de St. Cassien in France.