Fourth Illinois record fish of 2008

Another young guy caught the fourth Illinois record fish of 2008.

Rod Kloeckner of the Belleville News-Democrat reported Bryan Short caught a 64-pound bighead carp from Horseshoe Lake on Saturday. The 24-year-old from O’Fallon caught the fish on the last cast of the day while bass fishing.

The other three Illinois record fish in 2008 were caught by teenagers.

Short’s bighead, which took an hour to boat, far surpasses the standing Illinois record of 47 pounds, 12 ounces, caught by Bob Brkljach from the Big Muddy River in Union County on May 20, 2005.

With only two Illinois records set in 2007, it seems like a rash to have four so far in 2008

It began when 13-year-old John Chione caught a record silver redhorse (6.71 pounds) from the Fox River on April 24. The next day his 15-year-old brother Andrew caught a record 3.74-pound shorthead redhorse from the Fox.

Then in May, Marcus Miller, a 15-year-old Centralia High freshman, apparently caught an Illinois record crappie in Jefferson County. Just which record the 4-pound, 8.2-ounce fish will be has to be determined by DNA testing.