Angler Snags MONSTER Paddlefish On Lake Of The Ozarks, Setting New State Record

Jim Dain almost didn't get on the boat on Friday, March 18.

His family had come to Lake of the Ozarks for a fishing trip, but the weather was looking nasty.

“The forecast was calling for storms, and then it changed to no rain, so we went out, but it just kept getting colder,” recalled Dain, of Pittsfield, Ill. They took the boat out on the Lake to go paddlefish snagging. The season for the prehistoric fish, which live only in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and their tributaries, had just begun. “We weren’t having much luck, but decided to fish for another hour so we took another turn. And that’s when the drag on the reel started. It felt like a tree was on the line!”

Dain said it took at least 20-minutes before they ultimately got the fish in the boat. After getting back to the boat ramp, Steven Henson of Bonne Terre, who happens to hold the Missouri state record for river carpsucker, was in the area and mentioned Dain should get in touch with MDC.

“He was at the boat ramp and happened to hold a state record,” said Dain. “He’s looking at the fish and says to me, ‘Boy, I think you should get that checked out because it could be a state record.’”

Dain contacted MDC Camden County Agent Tyler Brown, who advised him to go to Tom’s Slaughterhouse in Montreal to use a certified scale that could handle weight more than 100-pounds.

Dain's monster paddlefish tipped the scales at 140 pounds, 10 ounces. That breaks the state record... but only just barely: the previous record was 140-pounds, 9-ounces set in 2015 on Table Rock Lake.

His paddlefish is the second state record fish caught in 2022.

“We got 16 one-gallon bags of meat out of this catch,” Dain laughed. “We’ve fried it, grilled it and made paddlefish tacos the other night. We’ll be having paddlefish for a while!”

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.

For more information on state record fish, visit http://bit.ly/2efq1vl.