The world’s biggest carp: Vinny and Big Girl

I told everyone I was going to catch it

By Vincent “Vinny” Huermann · Edited from his spoken account, shared on 28 September 2026. Dialogue is recalled from memory.

Before I ever arrived at Palm Tree Lagoon, I’d told my mates and my family what I was going there to do: catch the world’s biggest carp.

Tyler knew. Sam knew. Everybody had heard it. And they all thought I was joking.

I know how it sounds. Any angler can say they’re going to catch a big fish before a trip. But this felt different to me. I had a real, deep-down feeling that I was going to catch this particular carp. I couldn’t explain it. I just believed it.

A new lake, with Finlay

My first Thailand fishing trip was to Jurassic Mountain in October 2023, and I had been back since. It’s not a bad fishery at all; I’d simply reached the point where I wanted a change. Palm Tree Lagoon gave me something new to aim at: the carp I’d set my heart on catching.

So my son Finlay and I decided to go and give it a go.

We arrived in Bangkok, but I decided the city wasn’t for me on that trip. I wanted to get to the fishing. We went to Palm Tree Lagoon a day earlier than planned, and I had a great day’s fishing, even with all the rain.

The flooded bungalow swim

The bungalow swim — the fishing spot by the bungalow — was flooded. The angler who was due to fish there didn’t want to spend his session in it, so I agreed to swap: he could have my swim, and I would take the flooded one.

It made for a difficult day. My feet were wet all day long, but we carried on fishing.

It wasn’t especially busy during that session, but there was plenty of rain. Sitting there with Finlay, that feeling came back so strongly that I said it out loud.

“I’ve got a feeling. I can feel it. That carp’s going to come in the next few minutes, I’m telling you.”

Finlay wasn’t having it.

“You shut up, Dad. Don’t be daft.”

Fair enough. What else was he supposed to say? But I meant it. I honestly felt that the fish was coming.

Then the rod went

All of a sudden, the rod went off. It was bouncing and bouncing. I got to it, connected with the fish, and immediately knew I was into something huge.

I’d caught a carp I remember as 180 lb before, so I had something to compare that feeling with. This felt bigger than any carp I’d ever caught. I couldn’t put a weight on it from the fight, but I knew what I thought was on the other end.

I said to the man with me, “I reckon I’ve got your biggest.”

“No, no, no. Not that big. Not that big.”

Then, as the fight went on, he saw it.

“Wow.”

That is the point where the footage takes up the story. You can watch the fish and the people around it, and see the photographs from the water. The feeling I’d been talking about had become a fish in front of us.

The part the camera couldn’t capture

The photographs show the carp. What they can’t show is how certain I’d felt beforehand: telling everybody at home, sitting in the rain beside Finlay, and saying it was going to happen just before the rod went.

That’s the part that stays with me. I’d gone there with my son to try for this fish, and I’d caught it. I could feel it in my bones before it happened. Strange as that may sound, it’s how I remember it.

A fish that rarely gets caught

My understanding is that Benny, the owner, thinks the carp could now be nearer 300 lb. But weighing a fish like this is a big undertaking. You need the equipment ready, and you can’t predict when it’s going to be caught. That figure is an estimate, not a new measured weight.

As I remember it, this fish has only been caught roughly ten times over something like eight to ten years. I don’t have an exact tally, but it doesn’t come out very often at all. As far as I’m aware, my catch on 1 June 2024 is still the latest.

And we kept coming back

I caught the carp on 1 June 2024, during that first visit. Since then, Palm Tree Lagoon has become part of our family’s fishing story. Tyler and I returned in March 2026, and in July 2026 we went back with Sam and Daisy.

Our family has made four visits in all, including another short visit when Finlay and I spent two days at the lake in September 2026.

We’ve now brought together 106 photographs from those holidays. This carp is one chapter; there are plenty more catches and family moments to share. You can see a first selection in our Palm Tree Lagoon family album.

31 MAY–8 JUNE 2024 / OUR FACEBOOK TRIP DIARY

The week around Big Girl

Big Girl is the catch at the heart of this story, but the photographs around it bring back the whole trip with Finlay: waterproofs in the rain, redtails after dark, and the two of us in the water with fish we could hardly fit into a photograph. Looking back through our Facebook posts gives those memories a sequence.

31 May: still smiling in the rain

My photograph from 31 May shows the weather better than I could describe it. Hood up, waterproofs soaked, lake behind me—and still a smile on my face with a fish in my hands. That was the wet start to the trip I remember. The flooded bungalow swim was uncomfortable, but I had come to fish.

1 June: “I have only gone and done it”

On 1 June I posted a photograph of Big Girl in the water, with the lake lights behind us. After telling everyone I was going to catch that carp, this was the message I put on Facebook:

“I have only gone and done it the world largest carp .”

Vinny’s Facebook post, 1 June 2024

Those are my words from the day, with all the excitement still in them. Alongside the photographs and footage, that post takes me straight back to the moment I could finally tell everyone: I’d caught Big Girl.

Finlay’s catches, and another enormous carp

This was our trip together, and Finlay’s photographs belong in the story too. Sam shared his redtail catfish pictures on 2 June: one in daylight and another after dark. On 3 June she posted the two of us with a different carp, naming it The Warrior and reporting 198 lb. Her message said she was “buzzing for them”. The Warrior is a separate fish from Big Girl.

The album kept growing. Sam’s 5 June post celebrated my arapaima, with Finlay and two helpers beside me in the water. On 6 June she shared Finlay’s catfish photograph, describing it as a 175 lb Mekong. It is the range of catches—and being there together—that makes this such a memorable holiday to look back on.

8 June: one more carp before home

My 8 June update was short: “Last day good start 154 lb carp”. The photograph shows Finlay and me together in the water again. Big Girl had already made the trip unforgettable, and there were still more moments to add to the family album.

Album dates and the 198 lb, 175 lb and 154 lb catch weights are taken from the family’s original Facebook posts, linked beneath the photographs.

Our trip in eight photographs

Continue through our Palm Tree Lagoon family album, or go back to the first Thailand trip at Jurassic Mountain that started it all.

Meet Big Girl

Big Girl is the name our family knows her by: the enormous Siamese giant carp Vinny travelled to Palm Tree Lagoon to catch. With Finlay beside him in the rain, he finally came face to face with the fish he had been dreaming about.

She belongs to the Siamese giant carp species, also known as the giant barb. Her broad body and huge scales fill the family’s photographs. Those pictures, the footage and Vinny’s words bring the catch together here.

The photographs and the footage

01 / THE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS

Two views of the catch

Vinny supplied these photographs so the catch could be shared alongside his account. They capture Big Girl in the water and give a sense of the size of the fish at the heart of this story. See our photo credits.

Three anglers, three chapters

Long before Vinny’s trip, Palm Tree Lagoon’s giant carp had made the news. These reports trace the earlier anglers and lead into the family’s own chapter in June 2024. Dates in brackets identify the news articles; the venue reports identify the fishing month.

1. 2019 / JOHN HARVEY

   The earlier news coverage

   PEOPLE (3 July 2019) names John Harvey and reports 231 lb. Fishing World (8 July 2019), crediting LADbible, reports 232 lb / 105 kg. The two articles give slightly different weights for Harvey’s catch.

2. SEPTEMBER 2023 / KELVIN MARSTON

   The venue’s 252 lb report

   Palm Tree Lagoon’s September report names Kelvin Marston and describes its Siamese carp as previously weighed at 252 lb / 114 kg. The Sun (8 October 2023) reports Marston’s catch and says it was the same fish caught there four years earlier. Reading about Marston’s catch after his first day’s fishing in Thailand made Vinny think, “Imagine if I could catch it.”

3. 1 JUNE 2024 / VINNY HUERMANN

   A father-and-son session with Finlay

   Vinny caught Big Girl on 1 June 2024 with Finlay beside him, then shared his excitement in a Facebook announcement that day. Palm Tree Lagoon’s June catch report also records his catch under the spelling “Vinnie Huermann”.

The world’s biggest carp at Palm Tree Lagoon

Palm Tree Lagoon describes the fish Vinny caught as the world’s biggest carp. Its June 2024 report records his catch and gives the fish’s previous weight as 252 lb (about 114 kg).

For Vinny, she was Big Girl: the carp he had pictured catching before he ever arrived. The family’s photographs, film and announcement from the day put a personal story behind the fishery’s report.

Big Girl’s weight and world record context

Palm Tree Lagoon’s published 252 lb / 114 kg figure is from a previous weighing. Vinny recalls owner Benny estimating that Big Girl could be nearer 300 lb; that remains an estimate. The June 2024 report gives the earlier weighing figure rather than a new weight for Vinny’s catch. “World’s biggest carp” is the fishery’s description; this account does not claim a newly certified world record for that session. Formal angling records are assessed separately under a record body’s rules, such as IGFA’s record requirements.