Monster Missouri Crappie Could Set All-Tackle Record
FULTON, MO—Missouri angler John Horstman was fishing a private Callaway County lake on April 21 when he boated a 19-inch black crappie. He didn’t fully realize how big the fish was, however, until he got home and weighed it.
"It went a little over 5 pounds on that scale, so we got kind of excited," he says. "Until then we thought it probably weighed around 4 pounds."
Soon, the state fisheries programs supervisor confirmed the fish’s weight at 5.02 pounds, making it a new Missouri record. The previous record was set in 1967, when Ray Babcock of Independence, Missouri, caught a 4-pound, 8-ounce slab from a farm pond in Clay County. The state record white crappie is a 4-pound, 9-ounce fish caught by Samuel Barbee in 2000.
But the story doesn’t end there. Horstman’s fish is also being considered for the IGFA all-tackle record. Two 4 1/2-pound fish are currently tied for the spot.
Horstman’s slab is still alive and swimming--to Bass Pro Shops. It will be kept in quarantine and eventually go on display in an aquarium at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Springfield.
For more information about Missouri’s state-record fish program, visit
http://www.mdc.mo.gov/fish/ and click on "Fishing." Next, click on "Fish and Fishing," and then click on "Fishing records - pole and line."
