Jefferson County Fisherman is Latest to Break a State & World Record

(Mississippi River) The Missouri Department of Conservation confirms that a Jefferson County man is the latest state record holder after catching a massive 97-pound bighead carp from the Mississippi River.

George Chance of Festus was bank fishing for catfish with a bottom-bouncing crankbait when he hooked into the fish March 19th.

The previous pole-and-line state record was an 80-pounder caught from the Lake of the Ozarks in 2004.

Chance fought the fish for about 20 minutes before he finally got it onto the shore.

Chance took the monster fish to a nearby recycling center to use their scale which prompted him to call his local conservation agent.

Chance says “they told me it was a state record and I said, You’ve got to be kidding me” he laughed.

“Then later they said It’s not just a state record, it’s a world record and I said You’ve got to be kidding me. I had no idea this would happen when I woke up that morning.”

The Festus man’s catch is the third state record fish recorded in 2024.

The fish also beat out the current bighead carp pole-and-line world record of 90-pounds.

Chance says “I chopped up the fish and put it in my garden.

I’m going to eat it in the form of tomatoes and cucumbers.”

Chance also noted the carp was full of eggs and likely would have spawned later this spring.

Bighead carp are an invasive fish from Asia and the M.D.C. encourages fishermen to harvest these fish to help remove them from Missouri waters.