Big, Big Bighead Carp

The Iowa DNR verified a new state record bighead carp on June 20. The gravid female was captured by Larry Sparks on June 15 from Lake Rathbun, the first verified specimen taken from that lake. Sparks was casting a rattlebait and snagged the fish near a handicap accessible pier. It weighed 93.5 pounds and was 56 inches long, surpassing the former Iowa record 79-pound 4-ounce bighead carp pulled from the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids in 2009. It's unclear whether Spark's fish is a world record. A 106-pounder was taken from Lake of the Ozarks last year, but the IGFA says it hasn't received any record of it.