The catch last Saturday of a 34-pound, 10-ounce brown trout has shattered the Missouri state record for the species.
Paul Crews of Neosho was participating in a tournament on Lake Taneycomo and said he “fought the fish from one side of the lake to the other and back” during a 20-minute struggle.
“I’m still in shock that I actually caught that giant brown trout,” Crews told the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The MDC confirmed the catch as a “pole-and-line” record on Monday, saying it beat the previous record by more than six pounds.
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The trout was released back into the lake after being weighed on a certified scale.
Crews, who used 4-pound-test line and a sculpin-pattern jig, said he usually fishes only once a year – during the Vince Elfrink Memorial Trout Tournament.
He and partner Jim Rayfield Sr. were fishing from a boat when the massive trout struck and began dragging them across the lake.
“Once the fish was in the boat I just knew my partner and I had won the tournament,” Crews said. “But I was shocked to hear I was a state record holder.”
For the sake of comparison, the International Game Fish Assn. lists as the world record a 42-pound, 1-ounce brown trout caught in New Zealand in 2013.
–Image showing Paul Crews (middle) and his record catch is courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation
