Andy Hackett, 43, reeled in the stunning 30kg (67lb) orange carp, nicknamed 'the Carrot', while fishing in France.

The father-of-two, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, spent 25 minutes battling to pull in the five-stone fish - a hybrid of a leather carp and a koi.

The businessman has been fishing at the Bluewater Lakes in the Champagne region for several years and knew it was home to the "elusive" carp, which has not been caught in more than a year.

He told Sky News: "My friend caught it three years ago and so I've always known it is in there and I've always wanted to catch it.

"I knew it was a big one when it was on the line. They usually swim slower but you can feel the weight.

"It came to the surface 30 or 40 yards out and I saw that it was orange.

"It was a lovely fish, very orange, and healthy as well. We checked the fish over before we put it back."

Mr Hackett, a businessman who co-owns a communications firm, says he has been fishing since he was five when his grandfather first took him to a lake.

He now goes at least three times a year to France with friends and is already planning a trip next year.

But he insists that his catch was "80% luck".

He said: "We used a type of bait called boilies, because the carp eat them most of the year.

"But most of it is luck and a bit of watercraft. It is about being in the right place at the right time mostly, which I was this time."

Despite his pride at landing the Carrot, Mr Hackett says it is far from his biggest catch.

That, he says, was a 36kg (83lb) common carp caught in Italy last year.

And he says he hopes he will not catch the Carrot when he returns to the lakes next year, adding: "It was a lovely fish, but I've caught it now.

"Hopefully someone else can catch it."

Fishery manager Jason Cowler said: "We put the Carrot in about 20 years ago as something different for the customers to fish for.

"Since then it has grown and grown but it doesn't often come out. She is very elusive."