Now that is a big ole fish…
This bighead carp that was caught earlier this month in Illinois blew the last world record out of the water.
Weighing a whopping 109 pounds, the Bighead Carp that was reeled in was over 19 pounds heavier than the previous record. Before this impressive carp was caught, the IGFA fishing world record for the Bighead Carp was 90 pounds.
That record was set back in 2005 by an angler by the name of Jeffrey J. Rorex who caught the fish in Guntersville Lake, Tennessee.
The almost 20 year old record was finally broken back on June 16th when a commercial netting crew pulled in the 109 pound Bighead carp. The Illinois River Biological Station took to Facebook to showcase the large fish and share its unbelievable size to the world:
“One of the commercial netting crews we work with to reduce invasive carp populations in the upper Illinois River caught an absolute GIANT this week near Morris, Illinois.
This 109 pound carp won’t be causing any more problems for native fish and mussels! This fish was caught a day after the same crew caught a 90 pound fish in the same location.”
Here’s the kicker though…
The International Game and Fish Association has plenty of categories that fish can enter into the world record books based on how it was caught. You’ve got line class, fly fishing, gender and age divisions, all kinds of ways you can categorize the catch.
However, because the massive Bighead Carp was caught with a net by the commercial fishing crew, it is not considered to be eligible for any of the world records. Absolute bummer, but at least they have the picture to prove it.
And if you are still caught up on the Facebook caption where they said the fish “wouldn’t be causing any more problems,” that’s because the Illinois River Biological Station removed it from the waters.
The Bighead Carp is considered an invasive species, so even though it didn’t count as a world record, at least they got it out of the water and helped bring the natural food chain back to normal.
