Tag: state record

Angler learns why his record fish was rescinded; it’s not good

A Kansas fisherman who had his state-record white crappie voided and “didn’t understand why,” now knows the reason. X-rays don’t lie.

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When the KDWP rescinded the record, it did not mention weights in the fish, only saying that the “written application form was not ‘true and correct,’” pointing to the listed weight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

Fisherman finagles record rainbow trout through tiny hole in ice

Ice fishing alone on a pond in Rhode Island, Zachary Taylor landed a huge trout and exclaimed, “I think I got the state record, baby!”

Ice fishing alone on a pond in Rhode Island, Zachary Taylor landed a 15-pound, 12-ounce rainbow trout, pulling it through a 6-inch hole in the ice and immediately exclaiming, “I think I got the state record baby!”

Taylor took the catch to Jerry’s Bait and Tackle in Milford where officials from the Fish and Wildlife Department at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management confirmed the fish as a state record, as reported by The Valley Breeze.

The catch at Peck Pond on Jan. 18 surpassed the old mark of 12 pounds, 9.12 ounces.

“I did not expect that or anticipate that, it was quite the surprise and extremely exciting,” Taylor told The Breeze.

Taylor was definitely excited, as his video holding up the fish will attest.

When he got the fish close to the opening, he reached down inside the tiny hole and grabbed the fish by its gills.

“Finally, with some finagling, it squeezed through,” he told The Breeze. “I was literally shaking with excitement and adrenaline.”


At the tackle shop, he said fish and wildlife officials were excited about the catch, too. “Everybody was coming down to look at the size of that thing.”

Photo courtesy of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

Kansas rescinds state-record crappie, angler doesn’t know why

Fisherman seeks answers and wants his frozen catch returned after Kansas approved it as a record, then took it away after an investigation.

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. 

Lake Michigan serves up record burbot for Indiana angler

Anthony Burke caught a 14-pound, 3.6-ounce burbot to shatter the previous record by nearly three pounds.

An Indiana angler has shattered a state record with his recent Lake Michigan catch of a 14-pound, 3.6-ounce burbot.

Anthony Burke’s catch on Jan. 6 eclipsed the previous record by nearly three pounds and marked the third time in 13 months that a new state burbot record had been established.

Burbot are native to Lake Michigan and spend most of their time in extremely deep water off Michigan and Illinois, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

They migrate into shallower Indiana waters during the fall and winter to feed and spawn.

Anthony Burke poses with record burbot. Photo: IDNR

“Unseasonably warm weather and light winds on Lake Michigan the last several winters have provided boaters with a longer open-water fishing season and more opportunities to catch fish that are usually not in our waters, like burbot,” Ben Dickinson, a biologist with the DNR, said in a news release.

Burbot are found in parts of Canada and the northern United States, and in parts of Europe. They spend most of their time at depths of nearly 700 feet.

They’re prized as table fare because their flesh cooks up firm and white.

The all-tackle world record for burbot stands at 25 pounds, 2 ounces. That fish was caught in March 2010 at Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Kayak angler lands record crappie while bass fishing

Eric Allee was targeting bass when he reeled in perhaps the largest crappie ever caught in the state.

A Colorado angler who landed perhaps the largest crappie ever caught in the state last November has been awarded a catch-and-release record.

Eric Allee was targeting bass from a kayak at McKay Lake on Nov. 12 when he spotted what he assumed were three large crappie on his forward-facing sonar unit.

Allee, a marketing director at Eagle Claw Tackle in Denver, hooked one of the fish with a 3.6-inch Berkley Flat Worm and soon realized that he might have a record crappie on his line.

On Friday, after being informed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife that his 18.25-inch black crappie had broken the previous catch-and-release length record, Allee told FTW Outdoors what went through his mind during the fight:

“It all happened so fast, but it felt like slow motion if that makes any sense. My heart was pounding, I was trying to remain tactful, and I was petrified at the same time.

“When she breached the surface, I would cringe every time her head would shake. Anyone who’s ever chased crappie knows they’re notorious for having paper-thin skin around the framework of their jaw; with a fish that heavy, if she was hooked in the thin-skinned parts of her mouth, it’s a recipe for disaster.

“After what seemed like forever, I felt instant relief when I scooped the net under her and lifted her out of the water.”

Eric Allee poses with 18.25-inch black crappie before releasing the fish. Photo: Eric Allee

Allee said the crappie weighed 3 pounds, 15 ounces on a scale he keeps on his kayak. He knew he could also shatter the Colorado weight record (3.48 pounds, set in 2017) if he killed the fish to have it weighed somewhere on a certified scale.

But Allee told FTW Outdoors that the fish was so large and magnificent-looking that he chose to toss it back after immortalizing the catch with a photograph.

“I didn’t want to kill the fish for the record,” he said. “It’s not that I’m against killing fish, I eat crappie often, but didn’t want to kill the fish just for the record.

“There’s more to it for me, too. I practice selective harvest and there’s something special about watching big fish go back.”

Colorado is not known for giant crappie, but any crappie topping three pounds is a giant.

For comparison, the all-tackle world-record black crappie in the weight category stands at 5 pounds, 7 ounces. That fish was caught at Richeison Pond in Tennessee in 2018.

The International Game Fish Assn. lists as the length (release) record a tie between five catches measuring 37 centimeters, or about 14.6 inches.

Allee said he did not consider applying to the IGFA for a possible length record and bemoaned the fact that he missed the 60-day limit for record submissions.

West Virginia blue catfish record falls again, keeping streak alive

Michael John Drake becomes the fourth West Virginia angler to establish a blue catfish state record in as many years.

A West Virginia angler has become the latest state-record holder for blue catfish.

Michael John Drake, of St. Albans, was fishing with cut shad at the R.C. Byrd Pool on the Ohio River earlier this month when the giant catfish struck.

The fish weighed 69.45 pounds and measured 50.51 inches. The weight eclipsed the record mark of 67.22 pounds set last year by Steven Price.

According to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, this is the fourth consecutive year in which a new state record for blue catfish has been established.

For comparison, the all-tackle world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds, for a fish caught at Virginia’s Kerr Lake (Buggs Island Lake) in June 2011.

‘Extremely lucky’ angler makes unexpected catch

Anthony Rozniak was fishing for catfish with his brother on the Missouri River earlier this month when he made a lucky catch.

Anthony Rozniak was fishing for catfish with his brother on the Missouri River earlier this month and caught the unexpected—a 3-pound skipjack herring.

Recognizing that it could be a Missouri record, the fishermen immediately went to the St. Louis Regional office of the Missouri Department of Conservation and had the fish weighed on a certified scale.

The 3-pound skipjack herring was approved as a state record, and it tied two other catches in the pole-and-line division, the first coming in 2017 and the second recorded in 2019, both coming from the Osage River.

“We threw some jigs out to see what was there and the first fish I hooked into was a 1½-pound skipjack,” Rozniak explained to the MDC.

“The very next cast was double that size. We had only been out fishing for 15 minutes by the time I caught it. I looked at my brother and said, ‘I hate to cancel our fishing trip, but we got a state record! We got to go!’”

It was Missouri’s fifth state-record fish recorded in 2023.

“It’s funny because about five months ago, I did look through the list of state records and said to my brother, if we did break one, it would be a skipjack,” he said. “I honestly never thought it would happen, but I feel extremely lucky.”

Fisherman snags record carp after losing it twice; officials applaud

An Oklahoma fisherman who twice hooked but lost a huge bighead carp in the Neosho River discovered that the third time’s a charm.

An Oklahoma fisherman who twice hooked but lost a huge bighead carp in the Neosho River discovered that the third time’s a charm.

Bryan Baker, a fishing guide with Spoonbill Wreckers, snagged the fish after spotting it on sonar in 12 feet of water and then boated it in six minutes, as reported by Outdoor Life.

“I don’t mess around with these big fish,” he told Outdoor Life. “So when I got her close to my boat, I grabbed her with my hands and hauled her aboard.”

The official weight of the behemoth was 118 pounds, 3 ounces, establishing the state record for a bighead carp.

Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation applauded the recent catch because bighead carp are an invasive species and it wants to get rid of them in Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees and the adjoining Neosho River.

“Bighead carp consume large quantities of zooplankton, aquatic insect larvae and adults,” the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation wrote on its Facebook page. “Because of their feeding habits, bighead carp are a direct competitor with our native species like paddlefish, and bigmouth buffalo; as well as all larval and juvenile fishes and native mussels. If you catch this invasive species DO NOT RETURN IT TO THE WATER.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler catches record ‘river monster,’ just as he said he would

Baker targets primarily paddlefish and spoonbills.

From Outdoor Life:

“There’s not that many carp, so I gotta search a good bit to find them,” he says. “But they’re huge, so they show up well. I’ve caught 21 bigheads this year, and on Thursday I caught 11 fish, three of which each weighed over 100 pounds.

But the 118-pound carp was special, and Baker knew it when he first spotted it.

“Three days before I caught her, I was fishing with my buddy Jimbo Hollon and his son Nailrod and we spotted the big girl on my Livescope,” says Baker. “Jimbo saw the fish’s image and said, ‘Holy cow, that fish is the size of a Volkswagen’.”

He snagged the fish using 100-pound line but lost it. Fishing the same area days later, he hooked it again, and lost it again.

“I got her hooked the second time, but the hook tore through her soft flesh,” Baker told Outdoor Life. “But 30 minutes later I hooked her again and finally put her in my boat.”

Photo courtesy of Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Angler catches ‘certified river monster,’ just as he said he would

A Pennsylvania angler predicted he would catch a state record and he did it, hauling in a flathead catfish 10 pounds bigger than the record.

Pennsylvania fisherman Mike Wherley predicted he would catch a state record and last weekend he did it, hauling in a 66.4-pound flathead catfish from the Susquehanna River while using a foot-long trout as bait.

PennLive.com referred to the catch as a “certified river monster,” as Wherley had taken the flathead catfish to Columbia Bait and Tackle where it was weighed on a state-certified scale and verified by Jeff Schmidt of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

“I knew it was a record as soon as I saw it,” tackle shop owner Matt Musselman told Lancaster Online. “I see these big fish all the time, and this was the biggest.”

The current state record for a flathead catfish is 56 pounds, 3 ounces caught by Jonathan Pierce in the Schuylkill River in 2020. Wherley’s previous best was 44 pounds, caught in the same area below Safe Harbor Dam where he regularly fishes.

“I’ve told everybody in my family I was going to catch a state record someday, and there I did it,” Wherley said, according to Outdoor Life. “That’s incredible.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Safari guide attacked by crocodile makes life-saving escape

Once the fish was properly documented, Wherley drove it back to the Susquehanna River and returned it to the water.

“The fish got that big by living a long time, so I wanted him to keep on living,” Wherley said, according to Outdoor Life.

Photos courtesy of Columbia Bait and Tackle.

Oklahoma angler lands enormous carp for state’s first record

An Oklahoma angler is the state’s first record holder for bighead carp after landing a 118-pound, 3-ounce carp recently at Grand Lake.

An Oklahoma angler is the state’s first record holder for bighead carp after landing a 118-pound, 3-ounce carp recently at Grand Lake.

Bryan Baker of Spoonbill Wreckers, a paddlefish guide service, is credited with the capture and removal of a bighead carp that was nearly 30 pounds heavier than the world record, set in Tennessee in 2005.

Baker’s carp was snagged instead of baited so it won’t qualify for an IGFA record. (Snagging is the most effective way to hook paddlefish.)

But his catch sets the bar extremely high as a new state record.

Oklahoma added bighead carp, an invasive species, for record consideration to encourage their capture and removal.

In announcing Baker’s record catch, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation explained via Facebook:

“Bighead carp consume large quantities of zooplankton, aquatic insect larvae and adults. Because of their feeding habits, bighead carp are a direct competitor with our native species like paddlefish, and bigmouth buffalo; as well as all larval and juvenile fishes and native mussels.”

The ODWC added: “If you catch this invasive species DO NOT RETURN IT TO THE WATER. Please report any caught bighead carp to our Porter Office at 918-683-1031 or 918-200-4815.”