Cutthroat trout sets state record

An Arkansas fishing mark that stood for nearly 33 years fell on Sept. 29 when a Kansas angler pulled in a cutthroat trout at the Lake Norfork tailwater weighing 10 pounds, 2 ounces.

Mike Bowers of Abilene, Kansas, who said he has fished the stream for longer than the record had held, makes two or three trips to Arkansas' northern trout streams each year. He caught the 26-inch-long trout on a No. 15 bait-holder hook with salmon eggs.

He landed it in front of Gene's Trout Fishing Resort. At first, he and his fishing partner, Jack Wickersham, thought Bowers had a brown trout on the line before pulling it in and noting the distinctive cutthroat marks. Onlookers sensed the fish was something special, and the scale on the dock indicated as much.

The previous cutthroat record from the White River was 9 pounds, 9 ounces, set Oct. 6, 1985.

"To be honest, it didn't fight real hard," Bowers said. "It was a much older fish, the biologist said, and it was docile. We drifted downstream with it naturally, had the drag out about 70-80 percent, I'd feel the drag and I'd pull it back in."

The trout was caught during a minimum flow period on the river, about 12:30 p.m. Christy Graham, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission trout management program supervisor, certified the weight.

Sports on 10/16/2018

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