[Carptracker]

Press Release: Gene Swope of Excelsior Springs, Missouri is shown here with the potential new world record for Big Head (asian) Carp. He caught the fish on April 23, 2011 while fishing for Spoonbill in Lake of the Ozarks, near the Old Oar House Inn. The carp weighed 111# pounds and was caught less than 1/4 mile upstream from the Old Oar House Inn. Gene is flanked on the right by Grandson Garron Grass, 15 of Excelsior Springs and on the left by Grandson Justin Swope also of Excelsior Springs, MO. It took Gene 35 minutes to land the big fish and it required all three of them to roll the fish into the boat. The species was verified by a Missouri Department of Conservation agent and the fish was quickly purchased by "Cabelas" of Kansas City Missouri. The fish will be quarantined for 5 days before being released into their large indoor fish tank. Cabelas will provide Gene with a replica of the fish which will be on display at the Old Oar House Inn. This fish shatters the Old Missouri state record by 31 pounds and a quick internet search showed the largest Big Head Carp ever recorded was 80 pounds. For more pictures of this incredible fish go to www.oldoarhouseinn.com


You may recall that I predicted years ago that not only would we see bighead carp over 100 pounds, but that the really big ones would come from reservoirs where the fish are rare and not in competition with other bighead and silver carp.

 

[Chasebaker]

Big s.o.b!

 

[grizz]

Wow! Thats a toad.

 

[Carp Skewer]

dang thats a hoss!

 

[mike]

:shocked:

 

[mike]

Imagine if they get into the great lakes!! 100+lbs would be the norm!!

 

[B-RAD]

Press Release: Gene Swope of Excelsior Springs, Missouri is shown here with the potential new world record for Big Head (asian) Carp. He caught the fish on April 23, 2011 while fishing for Spoonbill in Lake of the Ozarks, near the Old Oar House Inn. The carp weighed 111# pounds and was caught less than 1/4 mile upstream from the Old Oar House Inn. Gene is flanked on the right by Grandson Garron Grass, 15 of Excelsior Springs and on the left by Grandson Justin Swope also of Excelsior Springs, MO. It took Gene 35 minutes to land the big fish and it required all three of them to roll the fish into the boat. The species was verified by a Missouri Department of Conservation agent and the fish was quickly purchased by "Cabelas" of Kansas City Missouri. The fish will be quarantined for 5 days before being released into their large indoor fish tank. Cabelas will provide Gene with a replica of the fish which will be on display at the Old Oar House Inn. This fish shatters the Old Missouri state record by 31 pounds and a quick internet search showed the largest Big Head Carp ever recorded was 80 pounds. For more pictures of this incredible fish go to www.oldoarhouseinn.com


You may recall that I predicted years ago that not only would we see bighead carp over 100 pounds, but that the really big ones would come from reservoirs where the fish are rare and not in competition with other bighead and silver carp.

Dats a HUGE B!otch!!!

 

[MathewsHunter]

Imagine if they get into the great lakes!! 100+lbs would be the norm!!

I wouldnt doubt that they were already there!

 

[P&R_Carp_Slayer]

WOW :shocked:

 

[Team HBC]

Hawg!

 

[WBG444]

good eatin right dar!

 

[PIKE]

BEAST!!! think of the stink that thing is putting off

 

[Nick Purifoy]

Man I wanna shoOt one in a bad way.

 

[Chiroguyf250]

Thats a monster would have been fun to stick it with and arrow or 2

 

[zeak]

Thats a Hoss!! From what I've heard they have already found DNA of them up here. Just havent found any actual fish yet. Wont be long, I'm figuring 5 years and they should be in the west side's rivers.

 

[Carptracker]

Man I wanna shoOt one in a bad way.

I'd rather shoot one in a good way.

Anyway, that weight has not to my knowledge been confirmed on a certified scale. That is an announcement from the Oar House Inn, not the MDC. They did have a couple biologists look at the fish and measure it. The length they have on their website is an inch and a half longer than the length the biologists gave me. There was no scale capable of handling the fish when the biologists were there. And by the way, don't be looking for that fish to be in the tank at Cabelas. No way that fish will survive the trip to KC. Good thing too, because transporting it over state lines alive would be a violation of the Lacey Act, and you don't wanna go there.

Just a reminder to all yall out there - you cannot legally transport live bighead or silver carp across state lines. I kind of doubt that you'd get the book thrown at you by an officer if you were transporting a bunch of fish without water and with arrow holes in them - unless he had an agenda or you P.O. him some other way. But be safe and whack them over the head if they ain't dead yet. There have been some people arrested for bringing live bighead carp into Canada - on ice. Fines are in the ten grand range.

 

[Carptracker]

Thats a Hoss!! From what I've heard they have already found DNA of them up here. Just havent found any actual fish yet. Wont be long, I'm figuring 5 years and they should be in the west side's rivers.

There has been one bighead carp caught above the barrier in the Chicago area waterway system, and at least three caught from Lake Erie. That's not a population yet, and there is no evidence of reproduction. Typically, it will take a fairly large seed population for them to get established. If they do establish in the Great Lakes, I'm predicting decades before they reach high abundance. Silver carp escaped captivity in the seventies, and did not reach high abundance in the Mississippi River basin until after 2000. Bighead carp probably escaped back then too, but we don't have any record of a capture until 1980. There were lots more bighead carp in captivity than silver carp and many, many more opportunities for escapement. They were well established long before the floods of the nineties, despite what you read in the media. Bighead carp probably escaped many times and with many many escapees, and it still took them until the late nineties to become abundant. The Great Lakes are BIG. It will take a long time to fill them with carp, even if they do well there. I predict they will do very well in Lake Erie, if they become established. The other lakes they can survive in, but I don't know if they will ever become hugely abundant or not.

 

[zeak]

Do you think that now they are reproducing like crazy in the wild and they are knocking on the door to move into the great lakes that they will likely just continue moving up like they have and start to take hold faster than people think?

 

[Carptracker]

Do you think that now they are reproducing like crazy in the wild and they are knocking on the door to move into the great lakes that they will likely just continue moving up like they have and start to take hold faster than people think?

If they are able to do well in the Great Lakes at all, the speed of the invasion will be dependent on how many fish are able to invade. If many thousands of fish can get through, the invasion will progress rapidly. If the population has to develop from a small seed population of a few fish, it will take a long time or never.

 

[Iceman_101]

Dude that thing is HUGE!!!!! :shocked: