Trying to net an Asian carp that was soaring through the air a few feet away, Mike Pernet didn't see another 10-pound fish flying at his head till it him square in the mouth. "It hurt," Pernet said, blood running from his mouth and down his chin as he sat in a boat on the Illionois River. "It loosened some of my teeth."

Pernet was among 300 people who took part in last weekend's Redneck Carp Tournament on the Illinois River, where participants could use only hand nets or clubs to capture the Asian carp as they erupted from the water and flew through the air like a battery of submarine missiles.

A bar owner in Bath - population 350 - staged the second annual carp tournament on Aug. 26 for laughs and slimy fun, yes, but also to draw attention to the invasive fish that many experts fear could threaten - or even wipe out - sport and commercial fisheries on the great lakes.

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