LITTLE ROCK — How would you like to be the angler who lands Arkansas' next state-record fish? I would, and no doubt most anglers would answer that question with a resounding, "Yes!" The sad fact is, though, only a handful of people will ever live that dream. The odds for catching a state-record fish are about the same as for finding the tacklebox full of lures you left sitting by the boat ramp yesterday. Slim. Extremely slim.
There's nothing wrong with dreaming, though. Every year, despite the odds against it, that lunker of lunkers winds up on some ordinary angler's line, and the record books have to be amended to reflect a new champion. Tomorrow, it could happen to you.
In the meantime, perhaps you'll enjoy reading this compendium of record-book trivia. I served as state fishing records coordinator for the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission for almost 20 years, and while rummaging through the agency's files, I stumbled across some amazing facts about state-record catches.
ALMOST HALF A CENTURY OLD
This year, Arkansas' state-record fish program celebrates its 49th birthday. The Game and Fish Commission began keeping records in 1959, and since then, more than 300 fish have qualified for entry in the record books.
BIGGEST
If weight is the criterion by which we judge the greatness of record fish, then the alligator gar caught by St. Charles' John Stortz is the undisputed recordbook king. This 240-pound monster came from the Arkansas River in 2004, but it wasn't caught on a rod and reel. It's listed in the unrestricted tackle categoryfor fish caught by legal means other than rod and reel.
The biggest rod-and-reel catch, however, also is an alligator gar - a 215-pounder caught by Alvin Bonds in the Arkansas River in 1964. It's the longeststanding record in the books. It's also the only original record never to be broken.
SMALLEST
There's nothing surprising about a 240-pound fish making the record books. But a 4-ounce fish? That's what happened when Charlie Thompson of North Little Rock caught the first state-record longear sunfish in 1965. At 1/4 pound, his record fish weighed the same as a stick of butter. The smallest current record is a 14-ounce flier (a small sunfish) caught in theSaline River in 1985 by Warren's Harvey Jones.
BEST LAKES
What body of water has produced the most state-record fish? Among lakes, DeGray is head and shoulders above the rest, with 27 records. However, if you take away hybrid stripers, DeGray wouldn't rate nearly ashigh. Twenty of DeGray's record fish were hybrids.
No. 2? Bull Shoals Lake with 20 records. On this lake, though, the catch isn't weighted so heavily to one species. Bull Shoals has produced records for several species, including white, spottedand smallmouth bass, lake trout, drum and longnose gar.
The remaining top 10 lakes are Norfork, Hamilton, Greers Ferry, Ouachita, Ashbaugh, Beaver and Hogue. Nine Corps of Engineers lakes - Bull Shoals, Norfork, Ouachita, Greers Ferry, Beaver, DeGray, Millwood, Table Rock and Greeson - accounted for close to 100 record fish, approximately 40 percent of the total. Eighteen records were caught in farm ponds.
Rivers account for about one third of Arkansas records. The Arkansas and White rivers are tied for top place with 30 records each. The Little Red River is No. 3 with eight records, followed by the North Fork River with seven.
BAITS AND LURES
Live minnows have produced more records than any bait, about 30 in all. Jigs were next with 23 catches, followed by worms, which enticed 14 record fish. Plastic worms and live crickets, both extremely popular baits, produced only four and six records, respectively.
Live baits and artificials each accounted for about half the total records. Altogether, around 80 different lures and baits were used to catch records, including such things as bacon skin (used to catch a record bluegill) and bread, which attracted two record grass carp.
BEATING THE ODDS
Catching two records the same day borders on the impossible, but it has been done twice, and on the same lake, Lake Ashbaugh.
On September 22, 1984, Terry Thompson of Paragould caught two Ashbaugh tiger muskies that topped the old mark of 6 pounds, 9 ounces. Then, on July 6, 1985, Jim Garrett of Pocahontas boated two tiger muskies larger than Thompson's 7-pound, 14-ounce state record. His largest catch that day weighed 13 pounds, 13 ounces.
No individual has ever caught three Arkansas state-record fish, but at least six anglers in addition to Garrett and Thompson have made the record book twice.
HUSBAND/WIFE RECORD SETTERS
Lots of folks go fishing with their spouse, but only one husband-and-wife team has managed to make the record books. J.O. Brooks of Hot Springs held two previous Israeli carp records, the largest of which weighed 30 pounds. Mrs. J.O. Brooks caught a 20-pound, 8-ounce state-record longnose gar on Lake Maumelle in 1983.
BROTHERS
Hard as it is to believe, two sets of brothers have taken record fish. Even more astounding is the fact that one of these pairs caught both their records on the same day in the same lake.
On April 6, 1981, brothers Coleman and George Reid of Weiner both caught state-record bullheads while fishing together on Lake Hogue. Coleman's catch weighed 2 pounds, 12 ounces. George's weighed an even 3 pounds.
Melvin and John Holmes weren't fishing together, but these brothers also caught state records. John Holmes of Little Rock landed his - a 7-pound, 14-ounce record hybrid striper - on Lake Hamilton in March 1980. Almost six years later, in January 1986, Melvin, a Hot Springs resident, caught another record hybrid on Lake Hamilton, this one weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces.
MOST DISAPPOINTING NEAR MISS
Put yourself in this situation. You're a teenager, and you catch a 34-pound brown trout. Last week, the state-record was 33 pounds, 8 ounces. But on the day you catch it, your 34-pound fish won't make the state books. Disappointing? To say the least.
This happened to 14-year-old David Wooten of Jordan. On August 13, 1988, he landed a 34-pound brown on the North Fork River. Had he caught it just one week earlier, Wooten's mega-trout would have been a new state record. But six days earlier, Mike Manley of North Little Rock landed a 38-pound, 9-ounce world-record brown trout on the same stream. Young David's trout was one of the biggest evercaught anywhere on earth, yet it wasn't heavy enough to make the Arkansas record book. It's small consolation, but Wooten's big brown did qualify as a 16-pound line-class world record. And Mr. Manley, of course, was rightfully proud to have caught a state and world record.
STATE AND WORLD RECORDS
Manley's brown trout was one of several state records that later went on to become certified as all-tackle world records. Among those still recognized as the biggest ever caught by world record organizations are a 27-pound, 5-ounce hybrid striper caught in Greers Ferry Lake in 1997, the 40-pound, 4-ounce brown trout caught in the Little Red River in 1992 and a 22-pound, 11-ounce walleye caught in Greers Ferryin 1982. Amazingly, all three of these fish were caught within a few miles of each other.
MORE TRIVIA
On April 23, 1984, two unrelated anglers from Indiana, William Wilson and William Garvey, caught two state-record white bass while fishing from the same boat. Garvey's fish weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces; Wilson's fish weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces.
Only two records - AlvinBonds' 1964 alligator gar and the 7-pound, 5-ounce record smallmouth bass caught by Lakeview's Acie Dickerson in Bull Shoals Lake in 1969 - have stood for more than 30 years.
Still want to catch the next state record? Well, if you fish with minnows, jigs or worms on the Arkansas or White rivers or a Corps of Engineers lake, then your chances are probably better than average - maybe one in 999,999 instead of one in a million. If you're real lucky, maybe you'll catch two records in one day. Maybe your wifeor brother will catch one, too. Despite the odds, it has been known to happen.
For information on current state records, including rules for certifying a record catch, check a copy of the current fishing regulations guide or log on to the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission's Web site, www.agfc.com.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 136, 137 on 05/04/2008