On Aug. 8 West Virginia angler Lindell Marker broke the state’s black crappie document whereas fishing a lake along with his pal Dwight Priestley. Marker wouldn’t maintain that document for lengthy, although. As a result of just a little greater than an hour later, Priestley pulled a fair larger crappie out of the lake that changed Marker’s shortly-held document.
The West Virginia Division of Pure Assets highlighted the extraordinary double in a Thursday press launch that names Priestley as the brand new state-record-holder in each the size and weight divisions for black crappies. (Like many different states, West Virginia acknowledges two kinds of fishing data for every species: one primarily based on inches and the opposite on kilos.)
And though we couldn’t confirm this with the WVDNR, it’s attainable that Marker’s extremely transient reign on the prime of the document guide is an unofficial document by itself. We’ve coated anglers breaking their own fishing records, and we’ve seen loads of data fall in short order. However 1 hour and quarter-hour? That’s unprecedented, within the phrases of West Virginia governor Jim Justice.
“I’m thrilled to have a good time this unprecedented fishing achievement,” Justice mentioned within the press launch, “and hope these new benchmarks encourage anglers from throughout to return and discover West Virginia’s world-class fishing alternatives.”
The WVDNR explains that Marker and Priestley have been fishing collectively on Woodrum Lake after they caught their two record-breaking black crappies. The 2 anglers used stay minnows for bait. It’s unclear if the lads have been fishing from a ship or the shore, and neither angler was instantly accessible for remark Friday.
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Marker caught his fish round 7:30 a.m. It weighed 2.85 kilos and measured 17.36 inches lengthy, which surpassed the standing size document and tied the standing weight document — each of which have been held by Craig Webb, who caught his state-record crappie from the identical lake in June. Webb’s fish was additionally the first-ever black crappie document licensed in West Virginia. (The DNR simply began accepting data for the species in January, which helps clarify why so many data have been submitted this yr.)
Priestley then one-upped his fishing buddy round 8:45 a.m., when he landed a black crappie that weighed 3.15 kilos and measured 17.76 inches. Each the load and size data for Priestley’s fish have been licensed by WVDNR fisheries biologist Cory Hartman.
