Iowa Big Bass Fisher

Congratulations Tracy Seaton!

The state bighead carp record established here Thursday won’t stand long, according to the Shellsburg archer who killed the 79-pound, 4-ounce monster.

Tracy Seaton, 47, said he has set his sights on another bighead that’s “at least a foot longer” than the 53-incher.

Paul Sleeper, Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, confirmed the record at an official weigh-in Friday at Nelson’s Meat Market, 1140 Old Marion Rd. The fish broke the record by about 3 pounds,  a record set year ago on the Missouri River..

Seaton saw the spawning female Monday when he shot a 53-pound bighead carp in the same section of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids.

He stalked the 79-pound carp for parts of three days before he finally got close enough for the shot, which pierced the aptly named fish’s head, killing it in seconds. Seaton said he doubted he could have landed the powerful fish if it had been alive.

While the bigheads represent fun to fish archers like Seaton, they could spell trouble for Iowa fisheries. Last year’s floods enabled the bighead and another Asian invader, the silver carp, to leapfrog what had been natural barriers to the expansion of their ranges.

The silver carp — known for leaping out of the water at the sound of an outboard motor  — moved upstream from Lock and Dam 19 on the Mississippi River at Keokuk, according to Kim Bogenschutz, the DNR biologist coordinating Iowa’s effort to track and contain invasive animals.  “The big concern,” she said,”is that the voracious filter feeders will out-compete native aquatic species.”