Big fish has officials wondering how grass carp got in Lake Erie

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ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania officials may have a bigger question than whether a 54-pound carp caught this week qualifies for a state record. The Fish and Boat Commission is wondering how the grass carp got into Lake Erie to begin with.

Dennis Russian, 59, of New Alexandria, shot his grass carp May 9 with a bow and arrow. Unofficially, it weighed 54.4 lbs, which would break a state record. "It's a little troubling, because they're not supposed to be in there," spokesman Dan Tredinnick said.

The species was introduced from Asia and is used in ponds to control vegetation, as its name suggests. People can apply to the state to get a permit to use them for weed control, but

they must be sterile, Tredinnick said. Nonetheless, grass carp have wound up in many U.S. waters.

Roger Kenyon, a fisheries biologist, said the commission has known grass carp were in Lake Erie for a number of years, but no one at the commission had seen one until Russian nabbed his. When the commission came up with the carp category for records, it was only thinking of the common carp, Tredinnick said. The record for the largest carp caught in the state was 52 pounds in 1962 in the Juniata River.

Tredinnick said the commission hasn't gotten Russian's record application, but expected to and commission officials then would consider whether the grass carp qualifies under the carp category.