Some other state records I think I can beat

The smallest state record fish is the longear sunfish at only 0.21 pounds. How hard can it be to beat 0.21 pounds? I mean, shoot, a good-sized crappie minnow weighs more than that, doesn’t it?

The second-smallest state-record fish is the shadow bass at only .45 pounds. What the heck is a shadow bass, and where can I catch one? Will they hit a crankbait?

There’s actually a new state record for silver carp at 15 pounds. Now, although the Mississippi Outdoor Digest says this is also a world record, I was curious enough to double check (because I planned on breaking that record) and found, that according to the IGFA, the big dog of the fish record world, Korea holds the world record at over 65 pounds or so. But, that’s OK. The next time one of those damned jumping carp — that’s the silver carp, folks — jumps into my boat, I’m going to weigh him and see if I can beat 15 pounds. I know I’ve seen hundreds larger than 15 pounds in several Mississippi River oxbows. Funniest thing we saw at the State Crappie Championship last June on Chotard was huge — I mean huge, bigger than 15 pounds, for sure — silver carp flying 20 to 30 feet out of the water whenever our crankbaits would come under a school of them. If I snag one on a crankbait that’s over 15 pounds, will that be legal?

The heaviest freshwater state record is, and I believe it — I’ve seen ’em this big myself — 215 pounds for an alligator gar caught in 2003 by Earl Stafford in the Mississippi River at Natchez. Well, on second thought, maybe I’ll just stick to trying to break the first three records listed here. Two-hundred-fifteen pounds with teeth and an attitude is not something I want to wrestle in the boat.

And, finally, one of the state records that was personally interesting to me was the big head carp record at 67 pounds, 12 ounces. You see, I caught one that weighed 42 pounds at Chotard a few years back, with my crappie-fishing buddy Hugh Krutz giving a huge assist. Before I learned that I was only 25 pounds light, I carried that thing around in a huge ice chest showing it off to whomever I could corner.

Oh, well, it wasn’t as big as they grow, but it was the largest fish that I’ve ever caught in my life — it was a record for me!