New state records: Tim Stillings (top left), walleye, Missouri; Ayden Minick (bottom left), common carp, West Virginia; Jarron Beck (right), gizzard shad, South Dakota. (Courtesy photos)
May 24, 2022
By Game & Fish Staff
There are a number of ways to chase a record fish. You can do it with the most expensive gear and with the biggest truck to launch the fastest bassboat on the planet. You also can do it with a can of worms and a Zebco 202.
Or, such as these lucky anglers, a state record also can come on a trotline, by bow and arrow, and from the bank.
Missouri: Walleye on a Trotline Tim Stillings of Morrisville, Mo., set an alternative-methods state record in Missouri with a 7-pound, 8-ounce walleye caught on a trotline from the Sac River, the Missouri Department of Conservation reported. Stillings caught the record with his friend Jake Myers. The previous record was 6-14, set in 2018.
"We run trotlines for catfish," Stillings said in an MDC news release. "It’s somewhat of a dying art. A lot of people don’t do it anymore. But this was the first walleye we’ve caught on a trotline, and it happened to be a state record. …
"Running trotlines is a lot of work. Jake was the one who suggested that it could be a state record. I didn’t realize they had separate records for alternative methods.”
Stillings filleted the record fish, but plans to get a replica made.
Missouri state record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: trotline, throwline, limb line, bank line, jug line, gig, bow, crossbow, underwater spearfishing, snagging, snaring, grabbing, or atlatl. More information on state record fish
West Virginia: C&R Common Carp Ayden Minick of Mt. Pleasant, Pa., owns the newest state fishing record in West Virginia with a caught-and-released common carp that weighed more than 45 pounds, the state DNR said .
The fish, caught May 7 from the shore at Summerville Lake in Nicholas County, measured 42.2 inches long, making it a state record for length.
The previous record was 41 inches (caught in 1988).
However, the fish did not beat the state record for weight. The current weight record for common carp is 47.0 pounds.
The catch was measured by West Virginia Division of Natural Resources fisheries biologist Aaron Yeager.
South Dakota: Bow-Record Gizzard Shad This 5-pound, 4 ounce gizzard shad caught by Jarron Beck is a new South Dakota bowfishing record.
