On May 25th, Rafal Wlazlo finally achieved a goal that had been eating at him for years. After setting his sights on Connecticut’s Lake Lillinonah and fishing it religiously, he landed the fish of a lifetime. Wlazlo says he chose Lillinonah because it’s a ‘catch and release’ lake which means the fish are not harvested and are given the chance to grow to immense sizes.
Additionally, previous records have come from the lake. In fact the record was first toppled in Lillinonah on May 27th 2023 when angler Robert Jagiello hauled a 45-pound, 1-ounce behemoth from the western Connecticut impoundment, toppling the 13-year old Connecticut River record of 43 pounds, 12 ounces. Then the record fell again in June of 2024 when Brian Santos pulled a 45-pound, 5-ounce common carp onto the shore of the same lake! Which brings us to May 25 of this year when Rafal Wlazlo bested a 45-pound, 8-ounce giant in Lillinonah. It’s hard not jump to the conclusion that these men have all broken the record by catching the same fish.
This is not to diminish the achievement of landing such an impressive fish, and every angler knows that breaking a record is no small feat. In fact, we should commend carp anglers for their commitment to proper release practices and perhaps it might be wise for anglers who chase outsized specimens of other species, such as striped bass, to take a few lessons from carp anglers.
If history is any kind of an indicator, the record should fall again sometime in the late-spring of 2026 with a fish of about 45 pounds and 12 ounces. We shall see.
