An Illinois man now holds the Missouri record for catching the largest paddlefish

An Illinois man now holds the Missouri record for catching the largest paddlefish. The Missouri Department of Conservation reports Jim Dain of Pittsfield, IL, snagged the record fish while fishing with his family at the Lake of the Ozarks March 18th. “The forecast was calling for storms, and then it changed to no rain, so we went out, but it just kept getting colder,” Dain recalled. “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!”
It took 20 minutes to get the paddlefish in the boat. When Dain and his family got back to the boat ramp, they ran into another record holder. Steven Henson of Bonne Terre holds the state record for river carpsucker. Henson encouraged Dain to contact the Department of Conservation (MDC). MDC Camden County Agent Tyler Brown directed Dain to Tom’s Slaughterhouse in Montreal. The slaughterhouse has a certified scale that can weigh more than 100 pounds. The scale found that Dain’s paddlefish weighed 140 lbs, 10 oz. The former state record was 140 lbs, 9 oz, for a fish caught in 2015 at Table Rock Lake. Dain said they got 16 one-gallon bags of meat off of the catch. “We’ve fried it, grilled it, and made paddlefish tacos the other night. We’ll be having paddlefish for a while!”