The consumer had by no means seen a paddlefish earlier than, and did not know what it was
Chad Williams (second from proper) will get some assist from household and mates to carry up the world-record paddlefish he caught in Missouri. {Photograph} courtesy Jason Smith
Chad Williams of Olathe, Kansas, may by no means be capable to prime his first day fishing for paddlefish. On March 17, Williams went on a guided journey with 5 different family and friends members on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, the place the group caught a number of huge fish through the opening weekend of the state’s snagging season. The paddlefish that Williams landed weighed greater than 164 kilos, breaking each the state and world data for the species, based on a press release from the Missouri Division of Conservation.
“I’d by no means been snagging earlier than,” Williams mentioned. “By no means seen a paddlefish — didn’t even know what it was!”
Jason Smith, the fishing guide who put Williams on the world-record paddlefish, says they snagged the large, prehistoric fish solely 90 minutes into the journey. It was their second fish of the morning.
“We had been trolling double treble hook snag rigs down about 30 ft in 55 ft of water when Chad hooked his fish,” Smith tells Outside Life. “We had been under the 60 Mile Marker lake space.”
He says it took Williams about 10 minutes to get the paddlefish to the facet of the boat. Smith and his mate Eric Leech then gaffed the fish and hauled it into their boat.
“Chad knew it was enormous, however he had by no means seen a paddlefish, and by no means had fished a lot in any respect,” Smith says. “He didn’t notice what he’d carried out.”
Smith had a reasonably good concept that his consumer had landed a file breaker. However the fishing was glorious, he says, in order that they saved on trolling and reeling in paddlefish.
“We caught a couple of dozen fish, and saved seven huge ones,” Smith says. “We had a 90-pounder, an 80-pounder, one other couple of 70s — all enormous paddlefish. However all of them seemed like minnows in comparison with Chad’s big.”
After quitting for the day, they loaded up the enormous paddlefish and went to the close by city of Montreal to weigh it on the licensed scales at Three Brothers Meat Firm. The fish weighed 164 kilos 13 ounces, which was simply sufficient to beat out the present world file of 164 kilos even, based on the MDC. (The Worldwide Sport Fish Affiliation does not recognize snagged fish as potential data, so Williams’ fish doesn’t qualify for an IGFA all-tackle world file.) The fish additionally outweighed the standing Missouri state file by greater than 24 kilos, and it’s been licensed in Missouri’s “various strategies” class, versus the standard pole-and-line class.
Learn Subsequent: How To Catch Giant Paddlefish with Giant Hooks
MDC experiences that Williams saved the meat for his household and shared some with mates. He plans to have a taxidermist mount the file paddlefish.
Paddlefish are an uncommon and prehistoric species recognized for his or her lengthy, paddle-like rostrums (often known as “payments”). As a result of these fish feed solely on plankton, they don’t strike baits or lures, and most anglers catch them by snagging them with giant treble hooks. They’re prized for his or her good-eating filets and attractive roe.
Smith shared his go-to snagging rig with Outside Life, which incorporates an in-line trolling gadget generally known as a Dipsy Diver. He says he often fishes these rigs on 80-pound braid.
“I tie the Dipsy Diver to a line finish, and rig one hook two ft above it, and a second hook about eight ft above it,” Smith explains. “Dipsy’s are previous salmon trolling gadgets that we’ve discovered to make use of right here to take snag hooks down, and we troll with them utilizing bait-casting deal with.”
Missouri holds a roughly six-week-long snagging season for these freshwater giants each spring, and Smith says his season is off to a roaring begin — particularly with Williams’ world file making the information.
“This can be a dream come true for me,” Smith says. “I may not have been capable of be the one reeling within the fish, nevertheless it’s simply as fulfilling realizing I used to be capable of put him on this world file.”
