Man Catches 67-Pound Goldfish... You Can Catch Goldfish In The Wild?

A British man hauled a whopping 67-pound goldfish out of a French lake. The catch is said to be the biggest goldfish ever seen.

42-year-old Brit Andy Hackett caught the monster fish, which goes by the nickname "The Carrot." Perhaps because it's the carrot that all anglers have been chasing, but more likely it's just because it's orange.

“I always knew The Carrot was in there but never thought I would catch it,” Hackett explained. "I knew it was a big fish when it took my bait and went off side to side and up and down with it, then it came to the surface 30 or 40 yards out and I saw that it was orange."

Remember: Orange=The Carrot.

“‘It was brilliant to catch it but it was also sheer luck,” he said.

Fisherman Andy Hackett poses with The Carrott, a monstrous 67-pound goldfish he caught in France. (Facebook/Bluewater Lakes)

The Mammoth Goldfish Raises Some Questions

Let's get the 67-pound goldfish in the room out of the way first: I was unaware that goldfish existed in the wild. I thought they were only found in pet stores and as carnival prizes.

Apparently, I was wrong. Before Hackett's catch tipped the scales, the largest goldfish ever caught was reeled in by a fisherman in Minnesota. It weighed in at 30 pounds and was thought to be 100 years old. The Carrott is believed to be a spry 20-year-old.

That's another thing I can't figure out about goldfish. The fish you won for throwing a ping pong ball into its bowl either dies on the car ride home because the water temp is off by a fraction of a degree, or it winds up outliving you by several decades.

There's no middle ground with goldfish.

It is perhaps the greatest ichthyological mystery of our generation.

However, that may be because these "goldfish" aren't true goldfish. The one Hackett caught is actually a hybrid of leather and koi; two species of carp.

Hackett released The Carrott back into the lake where he was caught which means he could be caught again. Assuming the fish continues to grow, it could break its own record.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle