I was fishing on the Missouri last month and pulled the boat into a small feeder stream. When I was backing out a pair of 35-40 pounders jumped like a couple dolfins. I would hate to get hit in the face by one doing 20 mph.
Status: No populations are known to be in Minnesota. A bighead was caught in the St. Croix River in 1996 and another was caught by a commercial fisherman in Lake Pepin in 2003. Populations of bigheads are in the Mississippi River and its tributaries downstream of pool 12 in Iowa. Silver carp populations are further downstream in the Mississippi and its tributaries.