Big story on huge bighead

Darin Opel was hoping for a gar last Sunday (May 4, 2008) while he was bowfishing from shore in a backwater above the Melvin Price Lock and Dam 26.

Instead the bowfisher from Worden wound up with a monster. Opel shot a bighead carp weighing 92 pounds, 8 ounces during his outing on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.

Belleville News-Democrat reporter Rod Kloeckner does a good job telling Opel’s story in today’s column. Ironically, Opel (who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 300 pounds) is allergic to fish.

He shot the carp using a compound bow and fought the fish for 10 minutes before bear-hugging the carp and dragging it to shore. His arrow hit a good spot, entering the carp in the head above the eye.

“It was real heavy, like lifting a refrigerator,” Opel told Kloeckner. “Once he got out of the water, he started fighting hard. He beat me up pretty good. He definitely got a few licks in.”

Here’s more from the story:

Weighed on a certified scale at Worden Food Market in Worden, the huge Asian carp had a 30-inch girth and measured 62 inches long. It obliterated the previous Illinois bowfishing record for bighead carp of 35 pounds, 5 ounces set by John Borgers on June 8, 2006.

In another story Opel also tells the News-Democrat he doesn’t plan to hold the bighead carp record for long.

“I think it’s only a matter of time before someone gets a 100-pounder,” said Opel. “I know I’ve shot the biggest one that’s ever been shot, but if that is there, there’s got to be ones that are bigger in there. And there’s so many of them. We’ll go out there on a Tuesday night and shoot 1,000 of pounds of them. We’ll go out there on a Wednesday night and shoot 500 pounds. We may go out there on a Saturday night and shoot 1,500 pounds,. It’s like it’s a never-ending supply.”

Opel uses the carp to bait raccoon traps.