A Good Use for Asian Carp

Here’s a good use for Asian carp: Cut bait for giant catfish.

That’s what Rob Stanley of Olathe was using when he took a Kansas state record blue catfish from the Missouri River on Aug. 11. It weighed 102.8 pounds, besting the previous mark by more than 8 pounds.

(By the way, Stanley also caught the carp in the river, which is the way to do it. Asian carp should never be moved from one water body to another, not even if they are to be sliced and diced for bait.)

Stanley battled the fish for 40 minutes and had to pull anchor to prevent it from breaking 80-pound line. When he finally muscled it to the boat, he and partner Brad Kirkpatrick realized that the catfish wouldn’t fit in their over-sized net. Their only alternative was to wrestle it in, where it bottomed out a 100-pound digital scale.

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