Kentucky Teen Bags World Record Fish With Broken Arrow

Bradyen Shaw was down to his last arrow, the tip was worn down, and the nock was broken when he spotted the giant bighead carp in the Ohio River shallows.

Most teens would have called it a night. Instead, the 16-year-old from Kentucky turned what could have been a fishing fail into a youth world record.

Shaw and his buddy Easton were bowfishing for invasive carp on Friday night when they encountered the massive fish. His damaged arrow kept falling off the bowstring. Three times he drew back. Three times the arrow slipped. On the fourth try, he connected.

"I've never had to shoot them without a nock and having to hold the arrow," Shaw told WPSD Local. The fish was so heavy he struggled to lift it by himself.

By the time they got the carp aboard their boat, it was nearly 3:30 in the morning and no businesses with certified scales were open. Shaw took the fish home overnight, then brought it to Aquatic Protein in Eddyville, Kentucky, a shop that buys invasive carp from local fishermen.

The scale read 82 pounds. That's 4.5 pounds lighter than the previous youth record set just 11 days earlier by Landon Conely.

Why This Inspires

Shaw's catch matters beyond bragging rights. Bighead carp are invasive fish that have been disrupting Kentucky's river ecosystems since escaping from aquaculture ponds in the 1970s. Every fish removed helps restore balance to the Mississippi River basin.

The Bowfishing Association of America confirmed Shaw submitted his record entry on May 29. Christina Hayden, the organization's president, said the record should be processed within two to three weeks.

For a teenager who refused to quit when his equipment failed and the hour grew late, that certification will mark an achievement earned through pure determination. Sometimes the biggest catches come from not giving up when everything seems to be falling apart.