Paddlefish

[Quillback]

105 lbs. according to the paper.

[GloryDaze]

Would someone typically keep this or release it? I know very little about them and am just curious.

[bfishn]

That should be one from the earliest stockings in the '90s. They were protected the first several years, and relatively ignored ever since. There should be a buttload more in the 100lb range out there.

[JohnF52]

Would someone typically keep this or release it? I know very little about them and am just curious.

I would not want to keep it if it would likely survive if released. It would be a good spawner. They are native to the White River.

Fish that old are usually not tasty anyway.

[luckycraft]

Something the article did not say I believe needs to be said is.

AGFC Regulations.

Snagging

Snagging is defined as fishing with conventional rods and reels where the fish is impaled by the forceful retrieval of one or more hooks.

• Snagging sport fish from a bank may be done only within 100 yards below a dam (prohibited below Upper White Oak Lake dam).
• Snagging from a boat may only be done at the following locations:
  • From 100 yards below all locks and dams on the Arkansas River to the downstream entrance point of the lock structure.
  • From 100 yards below Dam No. 2 (Norrell Lock and Dam) to the boat-launching ramps immediately below the dam.
• Any sport fish snagged must be kept, applied to the daily limit and may not be sold.
• The snagging limit is half the hook-and-line daily limit for the water being fished (or the lesser whole number nearest one-half when the limit is an odd number).
• A full limit of catfish and paddlefish may be taken.
• Snagging must cease whenever a limit of any species is attained.
• Suckers may be snagged between sunrise and sunset, April 1-Feb. 15. The daily limit for snagging suckers is 20, the possession limit is 40.

Beaver Lake Regulations

Area Specific Regulations

• Largemouth and smallmouth bass must be 15 inches or longer to keep.
• Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass combined daily limit is six. Smallmouth bass daily limit is six.
• Crappie shorter than 10 inches must be released immediately to the water.
• Crappie (black and white) combined daily limit is 15.
• Striped and hybrid striped bass combined daily limit is three
• Striped bass must be at least 20 inches long to keep.
• Walleye daily limit for Beaver Lake and its tributaries is four
• Walleye must be at least 18 inches long to keep.
• No limit on white bass for Beaver Lake and its tributaries including Lake Sequoyah.
• Legal to take game fish (except largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass) with spear guns during season.
• Handicapped-accessible fishing piers are available at Hickory Creek and Prairie Creek.
• Game fish may be snagged from the bank below Beaver Dam, from the Corps of Engineers “No fishing beyond this point” sign, downstream to the first Corps of Engineers boat ramp on the left descending bank from April 15-June 15.

The reason he was able to keep it legally is he stated he was fishing for "walleye" and it was an incidental by-catch.

Hmmm...My walleye gear would have snapped in half with that big boy......

[Quillback]

A news blurb from AGFC:

SPRINGDALE – The White River arm of Beaver Lake is a well-established walleye hot spot during the early spring. Last week, it gained some extra attention when Springdale angler Jessie Wilkes hooked into a paddlefish that topped the century mark and shattered the state record.

Wilkes and his fishing buddy, Richard Wynne, were trolling Walleye Runner crankbaits on 30-pound-test line in search of some eating-size walleye when one rod bowed under the weight of the giant fish. The paddlefish had been snagged in its side, which is not uncommon for the species.

Regional Fisheries Supervisor Jon Stein said, “Paddlefish strain plankton from the water using their gillrakers and rarely hit a lure, so most that are caught are either intentionally snagged below dams, caught by commercial anglers in nets or are foul-hooked by anglers after other species like Mr. Wilkes’ fish.”

The fish was weighed on certified scales and measured 105 pounds. It was 65 inches long from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose. The previous state record, caught from Beaver Lake in 2007, weighed 102 pounds, 8 ounces.

Stein said the paddlefish likely was the result of stockings that took place in the late 1990s from the Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery. The species was stocked in the lake five years during the 1990s, once in 2000 and once in 2008.

“The paddlefish from that stocking are 15 years old and older, so most are likely over 60 pounds by now. But this is the largest I’ve ever seen.”

[Ron Burgundy]

Today I was trolling for crappie in Kings River and I had been seeing lots of paddle fish on my graph then this evening one of my reels started screaming , first Thot was hung but when I grabbed rod I could feel a fish move....I was using lead core and only had 45 ft of line out I figured it was a paddle fish and sure enough it was I got it to the boat 3 times and when it would hear the kicker it would take off...,.i saw bait it was in its mouth .....I knew by myself landing was going to be hard after the third time at boat the 10lb leader broke.....I'm guessing at least 70lbs it was huge.....I didn't even grab net cause it wouldn't have fit and I have a pretty good size net....I never have saw anyone snagging them in Kings River and the last few yrs I have been seeing several on the graph in the spring so I guess Table Rocks " bonus" fish stocking is working.

[nathanhooper]

That would have been cool. What does one look like on a graph?

[J-Doc]

If you have an HDS, like a paddlefish. Lol! If a HB....like a big fish.

[nathanhooper]

How do you distinguish from big cats? I know there are big cats in the lake.