Gigantic Grass Carp Breaks World Record in Louisiana’s Lake Concordia

On March 11, a massive grass carp weighing almost 100 pounds was caught in Louisiana’s Lake Concordia. If it had been caught in a fishing competition, it could have broken world records. The state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologists who caught the fish measured it at 49.5 inches long and weighing 92 lbs.

This catch surpasses the “all-tackle” world record set in Bulgaria in 2009 by four pounds and would have tied the current world record of the Bowfishing Association of America, set in Alabama in 2015. The biologists from LDWF stated that this remarkable size was due to the fish’s age and its diet of aquatic vegetation, which helped it grow large.

Grass carp are plant-eating fish that are native to Asia and have been used in the United States since the 1960s to manage aquatic vegetation in inland bodies of water. This catch marks a rare occurrence as grass carp were never seen before in Lake Concordia until now. Biologist Shelby Richard stated that they believe the carp migrated through Cocodrie Bayou and control structures into Lake Concordia.