Striper, Blue Cat Records
August 23, 2011mdc.mo.gov__________________________________________________________________________
Some fishing records stand for decades. Others last only days. Two impressive records set last year in Missouri already are history.
The 58-pound state pole-and-line record for a striped bass caught at Bull Shoals Lake in July of 2010 was edged out on June 18 by a 60-pound, 9-ounce fish caught by Bruce Cunningham, of Fordland, also at Bull Shoals. He was fishing with a plastic swim bait. It was his first time fishing for stripers, and the first one he caught.
Small increases are the rule when it comes to new fishing records. However, there was nothing normal about a 143-pound blue catfish caught at Kerr Reservoir on the Virginia-North Carolina border in June. That catch shattered the world record set in July of 2010, when Greg Bernal pulled a 130-pound blue catfish from the Missouri River near Columbia Bottom Conservation Area.
“Thirteen pounds is a pretty good increase,” said Andrew Branson, who maintains fishing records for the Missouri Department of Conservation. “It’s worth mentioning, however, that 13 pounds is only 10 percent of our state record’s weight. There is no question in my mind that the Missouri River holds blue cats that outweigh the new world record. It’s just a question of whether someone manages to hook one of them.”
Earlier this year, Missouri anglers established first-time records for gizzard shad (1 pound, 8 ounces) and highfin carpsucker (1 pound, 6 ounces). Both records were in the alternative methods category.
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