The Caucus Blog of the Illinois House Republicans

Illinois is home to some of the largest freshwater fish in the world, and recently a commercial netting crew working to reduce invasive carp populations caught a giant 109-pound carp on the Illinois River near Morris, according to this Facebook post by the Illinois River Biological Station. A 90-pound carp was caught in the same area a day earlier.

Big fish are common on a number of Illinois rivers and lakes. A lake sturgeon is an extremely rare species, and it is also the largest fish species in the state. The largest fish ever captured in Illinois waters was a lake sturgeon from Lake Michigan in 1943. The fish weighed 310 pounds and was seven feet, 11 inches long. Some of the other largest fish on record include a 124-pound blue catfish that was caught in 2005 on the Mississippi River and a 78-pound flathead catfish caught on Carlyle Lake in 1995.