I've caught some big fish in Missouri in my lifetime, but never anything like this. A world record 164 pound fish was just landed at the Lake of the Ozarks and it's not likely to be topped anytime soon.
I have fished much of my life in Missouri and I'll never forget the first time I came across a large number of fish floating near the shore dead as a door nail. It always made me wonder exactly what in the world would cause so many fish to suddenly go belly up? There is some science at work although there's still an air of uncertainty about it all.
If you hang out in downtown Canton, Missouri this time of year, you have to almost try to NOT see an eagle. Oh, and you might want to keep an eye on fish you catch. One fisherman learned this the hard way as one of these majestic birds made off with an unwatched fish.
There's almost no way to completely eliminate invasive carp in Illinois river systems. The fish are so pervasive, they are likely something generations will be trying to deal with. But, there's a desperate effort underway to stop these evil fish from reaching the Great Lakes and causing a catastrophe.
If you've spent enough time near the Mississippi River, you know there are some strange things in those waters. That's proved true again as a man in Iowa just found something next to the river and no one has a clue what it is.
It's awesome to find a rare fish that's also endangered. It gets even better when that fish is only found under Missouri and that's exactly what happened recently.
What would you consider a whopper? I'm guessing by just about anyone's measure this would qualify. A man in Illinois just landed a humongous 109-pound big-head carp and it's real not a fish story.