CASSVILLE, Mo. (KMOX) - Reeling in a massive 57-pound paddlefish is a special enough prize for any angler, but the fish caught last month in Table Rock Lake has revealed an even greater success.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has been able to determine that the paddlefish caught by Joe Richter is between 44- to 49-years-old and that it was part of the original stocking of paddlefish in the lake in the 1970s. Richter discovered the fish had a tag clipped to its mouth and reached out to MDC.
MDC paddlefish biologist Trish Yasger looked into Tag S-777, but had no records of it on hand. After contacting multiple biologists in the state, she finally could match the tag to a program from the 1980s and 90s. The tag was placed on the fish in 1990 when it weighed 49 pounds and was 40-inches long.
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Those dimensions indicated this fish had been part of MDC’s initial stockings of 84,159 paddlefish fingerlings into Table Rock in the 1970s.
Yasger says finding this fish gives great meaning to the successful paddlefish management at Table Rock Lake. MDC’s paddlefish stocking at Table Rock Lake took place from 1972-77 as part of the agency’s strategy to maintain this unique fishing opportunity in Missouri.
“Thanks to all of their work, we have a thriving paddlefish population in our reservoirs for snaggers to enjoy today," Yasger says.
Read more about the historic fish, here.
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