Record Breaking 79-pound Carp Pulled from Cedar River [taken w/ bow and arrow]

KCRG.com ^ | June 27 2009 | staff reporter

[Daffynition]

LINN COUNTY - Tracy Seaton, 47, of Shellsburg, Iowa pulled in a 79 pound 4 ounce Bighead Carp from the banks of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids Thursday evening.

Iowa DNR Officer Paul Sleeper verified the fish is a new state record beating out the previous weight of a 76 pound carp caught last year.

Seaton used the bow and arrow fishing technique to catch the fish.

The Bighead carp is an exotic fish from Asia and is considered an invasive species in Iowa.

[cripplecreek]

Usually that means no bag limits. Game on.

Except for mute swans for some inexplicable reason.

[gov_bean_ counter]

He has bowfished in Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama and Louisiana

Does he play the banjo too???

[Daffynition]

LOL ...he has help getting from place to place ... gets a magic carp it ride.

[BGHater]

Lol, don’t forget Canadian geese; the snowbirds.

[gov_bean_ counter]

But alas, he gets it home and the wife says...

You caught it, you clean it.

[Recon Dad]

LOL!!!! I've always been told Carp are crappy fish.

[sushiman]

One shouldn’t really eat freshwater fish raw but I make an exception for this splendid dish, known as koi arai . Slices of koi carp sashimi are placed in hand-warm water for a few moments, then chilled in ice water. The flesh firms up and curls slightly, and is served on a bed of ice cubes and taken not with soy sauce, but with vinegared white miso .

[andy58-in-nh]

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get up.

[Howie66]

This does beat all of that carp about Michael Jackson, though.

[sushiman]

Furthermore , that fish is WAY TOO big for eating purposes .

[Thermalseeker]

I’ve got two grass carp in one of my ponds that make that one look like a minnow. The big one is over 6’ long and the other one is about 5’. It’s startling when they swim by....

[Recon Dad]

Just like the huge catfish they pull out of various rivers. You don't eat them.

[niteowl77]

Fishing with a bow is something I have considered taking up just for the heck of it. Back in the '60's and '70's, we local kids looked upon bowfishing as something rare, mysterious... and just a bit weird. The homemade spear was optimistically used off and on (tried, abandoned, tried again... it had the virtue of cheapness and absolute simplicity) and trying to blast carp with a .22 or .410 was reasonably common (and technically illegal). Overwhelmingly, it was the rod & reel that took carp, most of which ended up either being thrown on the bank to rot or be scavenged, with maybe bits of it turned into bait for better fish.

The idea of actually eating carp out of the Des Moines was repulsive to all of us kids - and most of our parents - so whenever we'd come across a stranger who was actually going to consume his catch, we thought he was little odd. Combining such dining with using a bow and arrow would have given us something to talk about at school for at least a week.

Mr. niteowl77

[Daffynition]

Gosh! Did they start out little? The carp's mouths in the image look like baby bird beaks.

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

Upthread, I linked to an article:

“His bow is a well-used Oneida Eagle, customized with a Zebco 808 fishing reel mounted on a bracket. The reel is spooled with 150-pound-test line, which is tied to the shaft of his arrow. The arrow is fitted with a bowfishing point with four large barbs.”

I’m not sure I’d have the patience to “track” the fish for 3 days though. ;)

[TSgt]

Oh' 79 pound carp not 79 year old crap. So sorry!

[andy58-in-nh]

Dear Ann Landers:

My wife is just like a cold fish in bed. What can I do to revive the spark in our marriage?

Signed,

Carping in Kentucky

[70th Division]

I used to hunt them on Saginaw Bay in Michigan and with a bow and arrow. When they get into the shallows to spaun they are pretty muddy taisting. Mom and Dad did have the best flowers and garden in the park though.

[Daffynition]

Dear Mr. Carping In Kentucky

Maybe if you stopped your carping and baited to her needs once in a while you'd get hooked up.

Sincerely

Ann Land-her