Illinois man bags 92-pound carp with bow and arrow
Darin Opel is allergic to fish. If he eats one or something that has been fried in the same grease, the reaction swells his throat shut.
"That's why my buddies like to go fishing with me," said Opel, a 40-year-old operations manager from Worden. "I can catch them and handle them, but I can't eat them. They're the ones that get to take the fish home."
Nobody will be getting the fish Opel caught Sunday -- except maybe the Guiness Book of World Records.
Bowfishing for gar from the shore in backwater above the Melvin Price Lock and Dam No. 26 on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River near Alton, Opel shot a 92-pound, 8-ounce bighead carp with a compound bow and arrow.
After fighting the behemoth for 10 minutes, Opel jumped into the muddy water, bearhugged the beast and inched him to the shore.
"It was real heavy, like lifting a refrigerator," said Opel, who ripped his jeans on the arrow sticking from the back of the carp's head during the ruckus. "Once he got out of the water, he started fighting hard. He beat me up pretty good. He definitely got a few licks in."
Opel won the fight -- and the admiration of anglers everywhere who fantasize about landing a monster fish such as his trophy.
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.
According to Duane Chapman, a fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who specializes in carp studies, Opel's catch is the largest on record by a recreational fisherman in the Western Hemisphere.
Chapman said there are only two bigger bighead carp on record in the world. A 93-pounder was captured in a reservoir in northern Texas a few years ago, but it was not caught by an angler and not weighed on a certified scale.
Chapman said a commercial fisherman in Pakistan landed a bighead carp that weighed more than 100 pounds several years ago. The fish now hangs in a museum in that country, where carp are revered.
"Both of those were kind of oddballs," Chapman said. "Other than that, I don't know of any fish that are bigger than his that have been captured anywhere."
Tissue and bone samples are being sent to Chapman to be tested for age and origin. Chapman said he won't hazard a guess on the age of the record fish.
"Any time you get something that's a contender for a world record, it's wild," said Opel, who has been bowfishing for 25 years. "A buddy told me I was just in the perfect place at the perfect time. Everything just came together.
"It's something that may never happen again. It would be cool to top it, but if I don't, I'm happy with where I'm at."
The catch
Opel is single, which allows him plenty of time to pursue his love for the outdoors. Bowhunting is at the top of his list.
"I can't remember the last time I fired a shotgun," said Opel, who took five does and a buck this year with a bow.
Opel has been bowfishing since he was 15. He usually bowfishes from a boat around the locks on the Mississippi River near Alton, but on Sunday, a buddy had his boat in Texas.
"But it was such a nice day -- the first super-nice day where it wasn't raining and it was sunny -- I just wanted to get out there," Opel said. "So, I decided to fish for some gar from the shore."
Opel parked his Ford Explorer around 2 p.m. and walked down the levee to the rip-rap, much of which was submerged because of high water. Near Opel on the bank were two elderly fishermen using rods and reels.
As Opel was shooting at a couple of gar, he noticed a shadowy figure pop up about 40 yards from the bank.
"I kept saying something to these fishermen and they said 'No, that's a log,'" Opel said. "But the third time I seen it, it popped up about 15 yards. I said 'It's closer now,' and right then it stuck it's head up. I knew it was a bighead, but that was the first time I seen one up in there."
Opel took aim and fired, the barbed tip of the arrow and its fiberglass shaft piercing the water. At first, the line went limp and Opel thought he missed the fish. Five seconds later, the 200-pound test went taut and the string started screaming out of his reel.
Opel's aim was true. His arrow entered the carp in the head right above the eye. Opel fought the fish for five minutes -- it took nearly 40 yards of line -- before it surfaced.
Then he got worried.
"Usually with those bigheads, they have soft flesh and the arrow goes through them and you got a little more hold," he said. "I knew this one was huge, and it worried me bad because I thought it wasn't going to hold."
Once Opel wrestled the carp within five feet of the bank, he lodged his bow behind some rip-rap, belly-flopped into the chest-deep water and wrapped his body around the fish.
After he was securely on shore, Opel said the reaction of the elderly fishermen was priceless.
"I bet they said 'Oh, my God! Oh, my God,' about 500 times," Opel said. "I was waiting for one of them to say 'Do you need some help?' but I never heard that."
More reaction
A member of the Illinois Bowfishers Club since it was incorporated four years ago, Opel has bowfished for sharks, stingrays and even alligators in Florida. His largest bighead carp before Sunday weighed 25 pounds.
That was a guppy compared to this catch. Once he hoisted it on the back of his truck and took it to Worden Food Market later that afternoon, a crowd had already gathered.
"It's amazing how fast word spreads with something like a big buck or a big fish," said Opel, who posed for numerous pictures.
When he picked up the prints at Wal-Mart in Collinsville on Monday, even the cashier was amazed.
"The lady said 'So, you're the big fisherman. That fish would have eaten me,'" Opel said. " She made another picture with a note at the top. It said 'You ought to see the one that got away.'"
A big man at 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, Opel said some people think the photos are fake.
"I hear people all the time say it's trick photography," Opel said. "I said 'Look at it. It covers my body. There's no trick photography!' My left arm still hurts from holding it up and taking those pictures."
Opel plans on having the fish, which is currently being stored in his father's meat freezer, mounted by a taxidermist in St. Louis. He wants to display it at the Deer and Turkey Classic in Bloomington next year.
Total cost to have it mounted: about $3,000.
"I have almost a year to pay it off," he said. "I asked my boss today if we're going to be busy, because I may need some overtime."
92 lb carp
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