'Lucky recipient of a monster': Man snags 146-pound world record paddlefish in Oklahoma

'Lucky recipient of a monster': Man snags 146-pound world record paddlefish in Oklahoma

Source: marconews

7/30/2020

It was Caitlin Lukehart's turn to snag the next paddlefish.

But she was too tired from already catching several big ones, so she let her husband have the next turn on the pole.

That twist of fate Sunday gave James Lukehart a likely world record paddlefish weighing 146 pounds, 11 ounces. It also broke the current Oklahoma paddlefish record by several pounds.

Lukehart snagged the behemoth at Keystone Lake, a portion of the Arkansas River west of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Guide Jeremiah Mefford said he saw the huge fish on his fish finder, but it was sheer luck that Lukehart was able to snag it.

"It was his first time out and he was the lucky recipient of a monster," Mefford said. "It was extremely windy, with winds blowing 20-25 mph, with very powerful rolling waves."

Despite the rough conditions, it didn't take Lukehart long to get the fish up to the boat, in part because of the way the fish was hooked.

"It was snagged towards the top half of the fish," Mefford recalled. "When they're hooked that way, they don't have a tendency to pull that long."

Suspecting it might be a possible world record paddlefish, Mefford motored to a nearby boat ramp and called the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and Conservation, and a fisheries biologist met them to officially weigh the paddlefish.

Keystone Lake

Paddlefish

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
2951	She defied the odds to lead the first all-women fishing cooperative	cnn	2022-04-22	AG
2952	B.C. conservation group moves thousands of salmon	cbc	2022-04-20	CA
2953	State agency warns dog owners to beware of salmon poisoning disease	THE PRESS DEMOCRAT	2022-04-19	US
2954	Nine Taiwanese indicted for deep-sea fishing boat abuse	focustaiwan	2022-04-20	TW
2955	Is plastic on the menu of Antarctic fish?	swissinfo	2022-04-21	CH
2956	In Cambodia, planting trees can save the fish	mastercard	2022-04-21	KH
2957	Man spent 47 minutes reeling in rare fish — then released it, Missouri officials say	miamiherald	2022-04-21	US
2958	Young Tanzanians use organic waste to produce fish feed	china	2022-04-22	CH
2959	Exotic saltwater fish tank luring visitors to Middletown’s City Hall for a glimpse of ocean life	sheltonherald	2022-04-22	US
2960	How leaks in U.S. ban on Russian seafood are undermining efforts to stop Putin’s war machine	Economy	2022-04-15	RU
2961	Behemoth Bluefin Tuna Caught Off Florida Coast Could Be a New State Record	outdoorlife	2022-04-20	US
2962	Trojan trout: could turning an invasive fish into a ‘super-male’ save a native species?	theguardian	2022-04-21	US
2963	Lawsuit accuses Gorton's of 'greenwashing' its tilapia	salemnews	2022-04-22	US
2964	Thai caviar, anyone? Farm produces delicacy in tropical climate	freemalaysiatoday	2022-04-14	TH
2965	Rare metre-long ‘vampire fish’ spotted at Diglis Fish Pass	worcesternews	2022-04-13	UK
2966	Officials warn fish from northern Connecticut river contain high levels of PFA	fox61	2022-04-08	US
2967	Russian trawlers have access to £16m of fish in British waters despite fishing ban	express	2022-04-10	UK
2968	Nevada scientists report highest population in decades of rare Devils Hole pupfish	knpr	2022-04-12	US
2969	Illinois man sentenced in Kentucky to a year in caviar sale	foxillinois	2022-04-14	US
2970	‘Threat worse than pollution’: Dangerous fish found in the Hudson	timesunion	2022-04-14	US
2971	Bizarre cannibalistic fish with fangs washes up on SF Bay Area beach	SFGATE	2022-04-11	US
2972	Canadian researchers contribute to first-ever library of fish sounds	citynews	2022-03-02	CA
2973	Federal court judge sets aside DFO order to phase out B.C. fish farms	cbc	2022-04-26	CA
2974	Fishing rodeo for senior citizens reels in happy fishermen	nj	2022-04-16	US
2975	Anchovies' 'frantic behaviour' during spawning causes turbulence in waters and helps to circulate nutrients	dailymail	2022-04-07	UK

118 of [217 - pages.]