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PdC man catches big black carp

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Jeff Ritter (right) of Prairie du Chien landed this behemoth from the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. (Photo submitted)

 

Prairie du Chien

fisherman hauls 

in huge black carp

By Ted Pennekamp

 

Jeff Ritter of Ritter’s Fish Market of Prairie du Chien recently caught two black carp, one tipping the scales at a whopping 115 pounds.

The huge specimen is the biggest such carp ever recorded in the United States, said Ritter, who caught the behemoth in a gill net while commercial fishing on the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, Missouri on Feb. 8.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one,” said Ritter about the black carp. “They’re rarer than the other invasive carp such as silver carp and bighead carp.”

Ritter said he was fishing for catfish and buffalo when he netted the massive black carp. “Along with the black carp, I had a 71-pound blue catfish in the same net,” said Ritter. “I didn’t know if I could get them both in the boat, but I did.”

Earlier this year, Ritter said he hauled in a 98-pound blue catfish in the same area.

Ritter said he turned the two black carp over to the Missouri DNR. The smaller one was about 10 to 15 pounds, he said.

“The biologists got there pretty darn fast,” said Ritter regarding the huge carp. “They were very excited.” Researchers from Southern Illinois University of Carbondale are studying the carp. Research possibilities include the fish’s health and reproductive potential in the Mississippi River.

While silver and bighead carp are a threat to the ecosystem of the Mississippi River and other waterways because they eat plankton, the black carp dines on native mussels and snails, explained Ritter.

“They’re very bad. They need to be stopped,” he said.

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