Festus Angler Talks More About Catching a Record-Setting Sized Carp

(FESTUS) George Chance of Festus certainly didn’t begin his day one week ago thinking that he would catch a record-setting bighead carp while fishing on the banks of the Mississippi River. Chance went fishing in an area that he visits often south of Festus between the Ameren Plant and the Holcim Plant. He says he wasn’t sure what he hooked at the other end of the line, but he knew it was big.

As it turned out, it was a big carp, he says it took some time to reel it in.

Chance says he went to weigh the carp and then contacted the Missouri Department of Conservation.

As it turned out it was a world record for a bighead carp! Chance was told it would cost $100 to register his world record fish, which the Conservation Department said they would pay the cost. Chance would take the fish home and chop it up as fertilizer for his garden to help grow his tomatoes and cucumbers. Turns out the fish was full of eggs. Bighead Carp are an invasive species from Asia, and the Conservation Department encourages anglers to harvest carp to help remove them from Missouri waters.