blake
Life Member
From the Omaha World Herald
Another record at DeSoto: Gold carp gives Iowan a big fight.
BY DAVID HENDEE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Like it or not, DeSoto Lake is gaining a reputation for producing state record fish - even if it is the invasive bighead carp.
Chris Watts of Missouri Valley, Iowa, hauled in a record 77-pound, 52-inch bighead with bow and arrow when fishing at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge lake Sunday. It eclipsed a 75.9-pound, 50.5-inch bighead caught on hook-and-line May 5 at DeSoto by Leo Riley of Omaha.
Iowa fishing records aren't divided into categories distinguishing whether they were taken traditionally by rod and reel or archery gear. DeSoto Lake is an old Missouri River oxbow shared by Nebraska and Iowa.
Watts shot the bighead on the Iowa side of the lake.
Watts said he encountered a "Jaws" experience after putting an arrow into the gold-colored carp.
"It dragged my 14-foot boat about three-quarters of the way across the lake. It was erratic jerking," he said. "It was pulling faster than my trolling motor could go."
Watts spotted the bighead about 5:30 p.m. while trolling the Iowa
shoreline near the pilings for carp to shoot with his 6-year-old son Marvin. He had already been on the water about five hours.
Watts shoots from a platform mounted on the bow of his flat-bottom boat with a Bear compound bow.
After putting a Muzzy-tipped fiberglass arrow into the carp, the chase was on. Watts handed the retriever line to Marvin and told his son to man the trolling motor and follow the fish.
Watts reached under the platform for his wife's bow. Marvin pulled in the fish and Watts put another arrow into the bighead. The episode played out over six or eight minutes, Watts said.
"It seemed like forever," he said. "It wasn't for my 6-year-old, I don't think I'd have that fish."
Watts said he shoots fish with a bow almost daily at DeSoto and givesaway most of the carp. Marvin's twin, Jesse, was angling for catfish with his grandfather, Jerry Watts, during the bighead experience.
"It keeps us in practice for deer-hunting season and gives us something to do as a family," he said.
Marvin, who shot a 25-pound buffalo fish about two months ago, put a third arrow into the record bighead after they got to shore.
Watts donated the record bighead to Woods Sporting Goods near Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs. A taxidermist is preparing the carp for eventual display at the shop.
* Contact the writer: 444-1127, [email protected]
