FESTUS, Mo. —
Missouri officially has its third fishing record breaker of 2024.
George Chance of Festus had a chance encounter with a gigantic carp while fishing in the Mississippi River, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) said on its website. Chance was back fishing for catfish with a bottom-bouncing crankbait on March 19 when he snagged the fish. He would then fight the fish for around 20 minutes before he finally got it onto the shore.
“The more it fought, I saw its tail and knew it was some type of carp,” Chance told MDC. “I was able to hook him with a hay hook in order to get him out of the water. It looked to be 50 or 60 pounds at least.”
It turned out Chance undershot the weight estimate. He took the "monster fish" to a nearby recycling center to use their scale, and he immediately called a conservation agent when the scale said 97 pounds.
“They told me it was a state record, and I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’”, he told MDC. “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 catch beats the 80-pound carp Missouri record set at the Lake of the Ozarks in 2004. It also beats the 90-pound bighead carp pole-and-line world record set at 90-pounds.
“I chopped up the fish and put it in my garden,” Chance said. “I’m going to eat it in the form of tomatoes and cucumbers.”
The record is the third fishing record broken in Missouri this year. Click here to see the most recent fishing records broken in the state.
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