bighead carp – Syndication Server

Fisherman snags record carp after losing it twice; officials applaud

An Oklahoma fisherman who twice hooked but lost a huge bighead carp in the Neosho River discovered that the third time’s a charm.

Bryan Baker, a fishing guide with Spoonbill Wreckers, snagged the fish after spotting it on sonar in 12 feet of water and then boated it in six minutes, as reported by Outdoor Life.

“I don’t mess around with these big fish,” he told Outdoor Life. “So when I got her close to my boat, I grabbed her with my hands and hauled her aboard.”

The official weight of the behemoth was 118 pounds, 3 ounces, establishing the state record for a bighead carp.

Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation applauded the recent catch because bighead carp are an invasive species and it wants to get rid of them in Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees and the adjoining Neosho River.

“Bighead carp consume large quantities of zooplankton, aquatic insect larvae and adults,” the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation wrote on its Facebook page. “Because of their feeding habits, bighead carp are a direct competitor with our native species like paddlefish, and bigmouth buffalo; as well as all larval and juvenile fishes and native mussels. If you catch this invasive species DO NOT RETURN IT TO THE WATER.”

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Baker targets primarily paddlefish and spoonbills.

From Outdoor Life:

“There’s not that many carp, so I gotta search a good bit to find them,” he says. “But they’re huge, so they show up well. I’ve caught 21 bigheads this year, and on Thursday I caught 11 fish, three of which each weighed over 100 pounds.

But the 118-pound carp was special, and Baker knew it when he first spotted it.

“Three days before I caught her, I was fishing with my buddy Jimbo Hollon and his son Nailrod and we spotted the big girl on my Livescope,” says Baker. “Jimbo saw the fish’s image and said, ‘Holy cow, that fish is the size of a Volkswagen’.”

He snagged the fish using 100-pound line but lost it. Fishing the same area days later, he hooked it again, and lost it again.

“I got her hooked the second time, but the hook tore through her soft flesh,” Baker told Outdoor Life. “But 30 minutes later I hooked her again and finally put her in my boat.”

Photo courtesy of Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Oklahoma angler lands enormous carp for state’s first record

An Oklahoma angler is the state’s first record holder for bighead carp after landing a 118-pound, 3-ounce carp recently at Grand Lake.

Bryan Baker of Spoonbill Wreckers, a paddlefish guide service, is credited with the capture and removal of a bighead carp that was nearly 30 pounds heavier than the world record, set in Tennessee in 2005.

Baker’s carp was snagged instead of baited so it won’t qualify for an IGFA record. (Snagging is the most effective way to hook paddlefish.)

But his catch sets the bar extremely high as a new state record.

Oklahoma added bighead carp, an invasive species, for record consideration to encourage their capture and removal.

In announcing Baker’s record catch, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation explained via Facebook:

“Bighead carp consume large quantities of zooplankton, aquatic insect larvae and adults. Because of their feeding habits, bighead carp are a direct competitor with our native species like paddlefish, and bigmouth buffalo; as well as all larval and juvenile fishes and native mussels.”

The ODWC added: “If you catch this invasive species DO NOT RETURN IT TO THE WATER. Please report any caught bighead carp to our Porter Office at 918-683-1031 or 918-200-4815.”

Catch of record-size carp ‘like pulling the plug out of the river’

An Oklahoma angler hoping to snag a giant paddlefish on Saturday instead hooked and landed a bighead carp that weighed 20 pounds more than the existing world record.

An Oklahoma angler hoping to snag a giant paddlefish on Saturday instead landed a bighead carp that weighed 20 pounds more than the existing world record.

The 110-pound carp was caught by Gabe Brannick during a High Water Guide Service expedition on the Neosho River.

“These fish pack a lot of fight and this one was like pulling the plug out of the river,” High Water Guide Service exclaimed on Facebook.

The International Game Fish Assn. lists as the world record a 90-pound bighead carp caught at Tennessee’s Guntersville Lake in 2005.

Brannick’s carp won’t qualify for a world record because it was snagged instead of baited. (Snagging is the common method for catching paddlefish.)

But Zach Fort, owner of High Water Guide Service, told FTW Outdoors that he’s trying to persuade the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to have Brannick’s carp listed as a state record.

Bighead carp, native to eastern China, are an invasive species. At present, they are not included on Oklahoma’s list of fishing records.

However, Elaine A. Gainer, Aquatic Nuisance Species/Fish Kill Coordinator for the ODWC, confirmed to FTW Outdoors that she’s “working with higher-ups to see if I can get the green light to recognize bighead carp in our state records.”

Gainer said her team receives sporadic reports of bighead carp catches at this time of year, mostly from anglers who were targeting paddlefish. (Anglers are asked not to release bighead carp because they compete with and threaten paddlefish and other native species.)

If Oklahoma did recognize bighead carp records, Gainer added, “the 110-pounder from this weekend would absolutely take the cake for the record here in Oklahoma.”

–Top image shows Gabe Brannick posing with his 110-pound bighead carp

Anglers praised for removing massive carp from Oklahoma lake

An Oklahoma charter-fishing business was lauded by the state this week for snagging and removing a “massive” bighead carp from Grand Lake.

An Oklahoma charter-fishing business was lauded by the state this week for snagging and removing an enormous bighead carp from Grand Lake.

“Shout out to High Water Guide Service for reeling in this massive 63.7-pound male bighead carp!” the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation exclaimed Wednesday on Facebook. “They’ve gotten us a few now and we simply can’t appreciate it enough. Bighead carp captured out of this system will be used for ongoing research on this population.”

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Bighead carp, native to southern and central China, are highly invasive and threaten native species in U.S. lakes and rivers in which they’ve established a presence.

Bighead carp were brought to the United States by an Arkansas farmer in 1973 to improve water quality and increase fish production in aquaculture ponds. But they began to spread into public waters in the early 1980s.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they are” currently spread throughout the Mississippi River, Missouri River and Ohio River systems within or along the border of 23 states.”

The ODWC pleaded with anglers, “If you find a bighead carp in the Grand Lake system, DO NOT RETURN IT BACK INTO THE WATER and REPORT IT [to the agency].”

High Water Guide Service, which specializes in paddlefish expeditions, on Wednesday posted video footage showing the carp alongside the boat and being muscled over the rail.

“What a blast to be able to land this fish,” the company exclaimed on Facebook. “The best way to describe this fish is its like a giant shad. They are disgusting, but a hell of a fight!”

Bighead carp are targeted by anglers around the world. The all-tackle world record is the 2005 catch of a 90-pound bighead carp at Guntersville Lake in Tennessee.