Hunt together with his new state-record redear sunfish. Andrew Hunt, by way of MDC
Name it newbie’s luck or maybe pure expertise, however Andrew Hunt of Hollister, Missouri, arrowed a state-record redear sunfish on his first-ever bowfishing outing June 4 on Lake Taneycomo.
“It’s fairly loopy as a result of this was my first time bowfishing,” Hunt informed the MDC. “It was my buddy’s twenty first birthday and we determined to go bowfishing. We had a information take us out on Desk Rock Lake.”
Hunt and his buddy shot just a few carp there, then moved on to Lake Taneycomo.
“I received as much as the entrance of the boat and really thought it was a giant shad,” Hunt mentioned. “I reeled it in and mentioned, ‘Nicely, that’s not a shad!’ The information noticed it and mentioned, ‘I feel you simply received a document!’”
MDC workers verified the fish’s weight at Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery in Branson, Missouri. Hunt’s heavy sunfish was weighed on licensed scales at 2 kilos, 2 ounces. That’s one ounce heavier than the earlier Missouri redear document of 2-pounds, 1-ounce. That fish was taken by archer Alex Phillips on Desk Rock Lake in April 2021.
Hunt plans to have his document sunfish mounted. His is the fourth Missouri document fish up to now for 2022.
MDC presents two varieties of fishing information, one for conventional “pole and line” catches, a second for “any methodology,” which incorporates bowfishing. Different different strategies embody trotline, throwline, limb line, financial institution line, jug line, gig, crossbow, underwater spearfishing, snagging, snaring, grabbing, and atlatl. The largest redear sunfish on document in Missouri weighed 2 kilos, 7 ounces, and was caught historically in 1998 by Glenda Gollaher.
Bowfishers generally shoot carp, gar, and different so-called “tough” fish, all of that are significantly bigger and usually simpler targets than panfish. Moreover, refraction makes hitting a submerged goal troublesome for archers, so a fish as small as a redear sunfish is especially difficult.
