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Lanier Gets A Carp Record
Brad Gill | June 12, 2020
A record for common carp has been established on Lake Lanier by James Martin, of Gainesville. His carp weighed 9-lbs., 3.2-ozs. and was caught the morning of June 6.
“Anybody who knows me knows I’m always out on the water with my sidekick and beautiful wife Amber until deer season,” said James. “If you find us out on Lake Lanier, we’re almost always on the search for stripers. March through May is my favorite time of the year to cruise up the rivers in search for a trophy striper on Lanier. When the weather gets hot and the boat traffic gets crazy, my regular fishing buddies and I usually switch over to carp fishing off the banks of the north end of the lake where it’s less busy.”
James credits his new record to his brother-in-law Joseph Taylor, who fishes a lot of carp tournaments at pay lakes.
“He taught me the in and outs of the different baits used to entice big carp into feeding. We mainly use homemade-flavored pack bait and fish it off the bottom in a nice quiet cove,” said James.
James said he’s been catching about 30 carp per weekend, trying specifically to establish a carp record on Lanier.
GON Member Article: Bank Fishing Techniques For Catching Carp
“We had caught five or six smaller fish weighing around 5 pounds Saturday morning (June 6) before this one,” he said. “This fish bent the pole over on the rodholder and sent the drag screaming at 9:45 a.m. We were just discussing how many fish we were going to have to filter through before we would get one over the GON benchmark. The fish only took about a minute or so to get to the net, and that’s when I realized it was a pig of a fish. I weighed the fish on my personal scales and saw it was well over the benchmark (8 pounds). I already had a livewell set up in the back of my truck, so off to Sherry’s Bait & Barbecue we went. The fish was released to catch another day.”
James Martin with the new Lake Lanier common carp record.
James had two witnesses present for the weighing, and the fish was identified as a common carp through emails with WRD fisheries biologists.
Thankfully, Sherry’s Bait & Barbecue in Gainesville is a friend to GON readers and allowed James to weigh the new record common carp on their certified scales.
GON’s Official Lake Lanier Record Fish
| Largemouth Bass | 17-lbs., 9-ozs. | Emory Dunahoo | 12/19/65 |
| Spotted Bass | 8-lbs., 0.5-ozs. | Patrick Bankston | 05/20/85 |
| Striped Bass | 47-lbs., 12-ozs. | Ward Schanhals | 04/03/10 |
| Hybrid Bass | 12-lbs. | Fred Duncan | 12/22/92 |
| White Bass | 5-lbs., 1-oz.* | J.M. Hobbins | 06/16/71 |
| Shoal Bass | 5-lbs., 5-ozs. | Peter T. Thliveros | 12/01/94 |
| White Crappie | 3-lbs., 2-ozs. | Bill Fretwell | 04/17/91 |
| Black Crappie | 3-lbs., 5-ozs. | Chris Williams | 10/06/06 |
| Walleye | 8-lbs., 9-ozs. | Buddy Wade | 01/20/13 |
| Bluegill | 1-lb., 2-ozs. | Mrs. Pat Johnson | 06/03/79 |
| Yellow Perch | 1-lb., 8-ozs. | Jeff Howard | 02/02/90 |
| Shellcracker | 1-lb., 9.44-ozs. | Michael Madryga | 12/12/21 |
| Rainbow Trout | 9-lbs., 6-ozs. | Brooke Wheeler | 03/02/19 |
| Brown Trout | 6-lbs. | Tim Wyatt | 04/24/04 |
| Flathead Catfish | 51-lbs., 10-ozs. | Rodney Stephens | 08/14/16 |
| Channel Catfish | 22-lbs., 8-ozs. | Robert Hancock | 09/28/11 |
| Longnose Gar | 30-lbs., 13-ozs. | Gerald Kennedy | 09/04/13 |
| Common Carp | 19-lbs., 9.6-ozs. | Charlie White | 03/17/24 |
| Blue Catfish | 19-lbs., 5.5-ozs. | Tyler Kesselring | 07/27/24 |
See all of GON’s official Georgia Lake & River Records here
Requirements For Record Fish
• Fish must be caught legally by rod and reel in a manner consistent with state game and fish regulations.
• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present, who must be willing to provide their names and phone numbers so they can be contacted to verify the weighing of the fish.
• Witnesses to the weighing must be at least 18 years old, and they must not be members of the angler’s immediate family nor have a close personal relationship with the angler.
• Catch must be positively identified by qualified DNR personnel.
GON’s records are compiled and maintained by GON, to be awarded at GON’s discretion. Additional steps may be required for record consideration.
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