Tag: Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

A Kansas fisherman who had his state-record white crappie voided and “didn’t understand why,” now knows the reason his record fish was tossed out and the old record reinstated.

After an investigation prompted by a tip, officials from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks discovered weights inside the “record” catch, as reported by KSNT.

Bobby Parkhurst submitted for state-record consideration a crappie that weighed 4.07 pounds on a certified scale. It was confirmed by John Reinke, the KDWP assistant director of Fisheries, as previously reported.

Parkhurst had caught the fish last April from Pottawatomie State Fishing Lakes No. 2, and it was reported that it topped the 59-year-old record of 4.02 pounds caught by Frank Miller of Eureka in 1964.

That was before a witness called the KDWP with a tip, saying the weight of the crappie in question was initially 3.73 pounds.

“To preserve the integrity of KDWP’s state-record program, KDWP game wardens met with the angler who voluntarily presented his fish for re-examination,” KDWP spokeswoman Nadia Marji told KSNT. “When staff used a handheld metal detector to scan the fish, the device detected the presence of metal.”

The game wardens then took the fish to the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center where an X-ray showed two steel ball bearings in the fish’s stomach.

When the KDWP rescinded the record, it did not mention weights in the fish, only saying that the “written application form was not ‘true and correct,’” pointing to the listed weight on the form.

Parkhurst had insisted he filled out the application properly, saying, “I don’t understand why they’re doing this to me.”

“I did it the whole way they wanted me to do it,” Parkhurst told KSNT. “I went through the procedures, I wrote down what I caught it on, I did everything they wanted me to do by the book. I did everything I was supposed to do. Their biologists looked at it more than once.”

The incident is reminiscent of when two anglers in Ohio were caught red-handed having put lead weights into walleye in an effort to win a big-money fishing tournament in September 2022. They eventually admitted guilt and were sentenced to 10 days in jail, lost fishing privileges for three years and forfeited their $100,000 boat.

In this case, the stakes were much smaller. Katie Garceran of the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office told KSNT that after an investigation, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the case concerning the creation of false information.

Photos courtesy of Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. 

A fisherman who caught a huge white crappie that was approved as a state record by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks last April had his frozen trophy catch—and record—taken from him and he doesn’t know why.

Bobby Parkhurst caught a 4.07-pound white crappie from Pottawatomie State Fishing Lakes No. 2 that the KDWP recognized as topping a 59-year-old record.

A press release from April 4, 2023 stated, “After inspection and measurement by John Reinke, assistant director of Fisheries for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the lunker catch was put on a certified scale where it was recorded as weighing 4.07 pounds – the equivalent of six cans of soup.

“As fisheries biologists, we get the chance to see a lot of big fish but this one is certainly for the books,” said Reinke. “This crappie measured in at 18 inches long and 14 inches in girth, so it truly deserves a spot on the state record list.”

But seven months later, the KDWP changed its mind, and reinstated the old record of 4.02 by Frank Miller of Eureka in 1964.

Parkhurst told KSNT 27 News that game wardens came to his home with a search warrant and seized the frozen fish. According to KDWP spokeswoman Nadia Marji, the fish was seized in connection with a “formal investigation.”

Parkhurst attempted to get answers from the KDWP but has yet to get them. Nor has he gotten his fish back.

“They didn’t tell my anything,” Parkhurst told KSNT last week. “I don’t understand why they’re doing this to me.”

A tip received by KDWP after the record was announced prompted wildlife officials to launch an investigation into the record and the review process.

“There was not an error in the verification process,” Marji told KSNT. “Rather, information supplied to the department by the angler via his written application form was not ‘true and correct.’”

Pressed for further explanation, Marji told KSNT the issue came from the listed weight of the white crappie on the form.

“The fish appeared normal and healthy, and was accurately identified by staff,” Marji said. “However, had the application been filled out accurately by the angler, it would have not qualified as a state record.”

Parkhurst insists he filled out the application properly, and added that he wants his fish returned.

“I did it the whole way they wanted me to do it,” Parkhurst told KSNT. “I went through the procedures, I wrote down what I caught it on, I did everything they wanted me to do by the book. I did everything I was supposed to do. Their biologists looked at it more than once.”

Marji told KSNT that it’s still an active case, an apparent indication that there is more to the story.

The original press release announcing the record was updated in November, stating at the top of the release: “Upon further review by KDWP officials, the crappie caught by Parkhurst could not be confirmed; therefore, the previous record for Kansas’ largest crappie still stands (Miller, 1964).”

Photos courtesy of Bobby Parkhurst and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.