BIRCH TREE, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports that Rick Sartin of Birch Tree became the most recent record-breaking angler in Missouri when he hooked a silver redhorse on the Current River using a rod and reel.
The new “pole and line” record silver redhorse caught by Sartin on June 14 weighed 10-pounds, 6-ounces. The new record breaks the previous state-record and pole-and-line silver redhorse of 5-pound, 10-ounces caught at Sac River in 2000. MDC staff verified Sartin’s record-weight fish using a certified scale in Van Buren.
Silver redhorse fish are part of the sucker family. They are a moderately chubby, coarse-scaled fish with a dorsal fin containing 12 or 13 rays. These fish can be found mostly throughout the Ozarks.
“Larger silver redhorses are usually caught while gigging,” MDC Fisheries Programs Specialist Andrew Branson said. “This record is unique because it was taken by pole and line, and is larger than our alternative methods state record for this species. Missouri is a great place to fish and a great place to catch redhorse suckers. Missouri currently holds the world record for the river redhorse, and this silver redhorse caught by Sartin was less than one pound from the existing world record.”
Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: throwlines, trotlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl.
