State officers encourage anglers to maintain each bighead carp they catch, so George Likelihood chopped the fish up and put it in his backyard
George Likelihood with the record-breaking carp that weighed 97 kilos. Photograph through MDC
Final week a Missouri angler caught a large bighead carp that’s been licensed as a brand new state file and stands to interrupt the present world file for the species. George Likelihood caught the carp whereas fishing from the shore of the Mississippi River south of St. Louis. Likelihood, who lives close by in Festus, mentioned he hooked the fish on a crankbait.
“You form of know what a fish is when you hook into it based mostly on the way it fights,” Likelihood instructed the Missouri Department of Conservation, which introduced the brand new state file on Friday. “It was transferring fairly gradual and I initially thought it could possibly be a flathead.”
Likelihood defined that he ultimately noticed the fish’s forked tail and realized it was a carp. It wasn’t till he obtained it near shore that he noticed how huge it was, and he needed to get artistic to land the fish on his personal.
“I used to be in a position to hook him with a hay hook as a way to get him out of the water,” Likelihood mentioned. “It appeared to be 50 or 60 kilos at the very least.”
The fisherman took the carp to a close-by recycling heart to make use of the licensed scales there. When he noticed that it weighed 97 kilos, Likelihood referred to as the MDC straight away.
Learn Subsequent: Fisherman Tells Wife He’s Going Out to Catch a Record, Then Catches State-Record Perch
“They instructed me it was a state file, and I mentioned, ‘You’ve obtained to be kidding me!’ Then later they mentioned, ‘It’s not only a state file, it’s a world file!’ and I mentioned, ‘You’ve obtained to be kidding me!’ I had no thought this might occur once I awoke that morning.”
Likelihood’s bighead carp file has been licensed within the state’s “pole and line” class, and it tops the earlier state file by 17 kilos. The MDC also recognizes state-record fish caught with “various strategies” comparable to bows and trotlines, and the standing file in that class is a 125-pounder that was harvested with bowfishing gear in 2021.
Because the MDC identified, Likelihood’s carp may additionally set a brand new all-tackle world file for the species. The present world file, based on the International Game Fish Association, weighed 90 kilos and was caught from Guntersville Lake in Tennessee in 2005.
Though anglers in different states have snagged heavier bigheads, the IGFA doesn’t acknowledge snagged fish in its file ebook. Which implies that if Likelihood goes by means of the right steps and sends in an software, his carp will seemingly be acknowledged as the brand new world file for the species.
Learn Subsequent: Can You Eat Carp?
Bighead carp are native to Asia however they’ve established themselves within the Mississippi River Basin, the place they’re thought-about an invasive menace by fisheries managers. MDC has been attempting to reign of their populations for years, and the company encourages anglers to kill all of the bighead carp they’ll catch.
Likelihood harvested his state-record carp, which he famous was stuffed with eggs and would have seemingly spawned within the river this spring. Now, it’ll be used as fertilizer as an alternative.
“I chopped up the fish and put it in my backyard,” Likelihood mentioned. “I’m going to eat it within the type of tomatoes and cucumbers.