A Missouri angler had to convince friends that his recent catch of a longear sunfish broke a 27-year-old state record – simply because the fish was so small.
But at 4 ounces the sunfish caught by Robert Audrain III earlier this month shattered the previous record, set in 1993, by a full ounce.
“It’s funny because most of my friends thought it was a joke,” Audrain told the Missouri Department of Conservation, which announced the record last Thursday via social media. “Because of the fish’s size, they really didn’t think that it was a record.”
Audrain caught the sunfish via throwline, or handline, July 3 from a dock on his father-in-law’s private pond in Franklin County. He had been fishing with his 12-year-old son.
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Because it was not caught with a rod and reel it falls into Missouri’s “alternative method” category. The rod and reel record is an 11-ounce longear sunfish caught from a private pond in 2007.
For the sake of comparison, the all-tackle world record is a 1-pound, 12-ounce longear sunfish caught in New Mexico’s Elephant Butte Lake in 1985.
Audrain, whose hands dwarfed his sunfish as he posed for a photo, plans to put his prized catch on prominent display at home:
“My buddy’s father is a taxidermist, and I think I’m going to have him mount it,” he said.
–Image courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation