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 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.