FRANKLIN COUNTY (KMOX) - A teenager from St. Louis is now the new Missouri record holder for the largest longear sunfish caught by alternative methods. The fish is just one ounce heavier than the previous record, which was caught by his dad on the same day and in the same location in 2020.
Robert “RJ” Audrain IV of St. Louis caught his record five-ounce fish at a private pond in Franklin County on July 3. He surpassed his dad, Robert Audrain III.
RJ was using a handline and it took him about five minutes to get the fish out of the water. He says he will likely mount his record and place it next to his dad’s on their wall at home.
“We were actually joking that it would be funny if we had a new record on the wall each year that is an ounce bigger,” he said. “I think we’re definitely going to keep trying to break our records.”
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The sunfish was weighed on a certified scale at MDC’s St. Louis Regional Office. It’s the seventh state record fish recorded in 2021.
Missouri state record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: throwlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl.
For more information on state record fish, MDC.Mo.gov/fishing/trophies.
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