May Have Caught a State Record Labor Day

[MOsmallies]

But I will never know...

I wanted to share a fish story from yesterday (Labor Day) on Lake of the Ozarks. I was crappie fishing off my family's dock in the very back of a cove at the 25 MM about 11 am (Crappie report on the LOZ forum). I was using minnows under a slip bobber about 9-10 feet deep. Hooked this fish thinking I had a slab before it came shooting out of the water like a baby tarpon. Initially I thought it was a Mooneye. We took some pictures and measurements because I knew it was a somewhat rare catch on Lake of the Ozarks. It was just shy of 17" but we never weighed it. Unfortunately the fish swallowed the hook and was dead when we tried to release it. Not even considering if it could have been a state record we cut it into chunks and fed it to the turtles. When I got back home last night I researched it some more and determined it may actually be a Goldeye. I came across a 2012 article about the state record Goldeye which was also caught from Lake of the Ozarks (16.5" and 1 lb 12 oz) and realized my fish may have been or at least came close to the state record.

Today I emailed Greg Stoner, fisheries biologist for LOZ, to share the stories and pictures. He called me back within a couple hours and confirmed it was a Goldeye and it would've at least been close to the state record. He agreed that the strange part was the location it was caught. He's been surveying the lake for 20+ years and the only place he's seen them is below Truman Dam when surveying for Walleye.

At least it'll be a good story! Oh and the crappie fishing was pretty good!

[nomolites]

Wow!  Great story even if you didn't get the official cred.  I have been fishing LOZ for 50 years and have never caught one ( or seen one caught) in the lake - only below Bagnell.

 

Mike

[Smalliebigs]

Hahahaha. ....I caught one on the Missouri  River once and like a dumbass tried to lip it. Sweet  report and you're  guy's cove is a killer fishery in itself.

[Old plug]

Mississippi catfish love them. Used to catch them on tiny jigs in back of damns like Winfield and Clarksville. 

[nomolites]

Mississippi catfish love them. Used to catch them on tiny jigs in back of damns like Winfield and Clarksville. 

Daiichi rigs, and yes the big blues lub 'em below the dams or in the deep holes.

 

Mike

[MOsmallies]

Mississippi catfish love them. Used to catch them on tiny jigs in back of damns like Winfield and Clarksville. 

I actually considered keeping it and freezing it for catfish bait

[fishinwrench]

They make what I assume is a spawning run up the creeks in the Spring and it's hard to tell them from Whites when you see them.  

I've snagged them accidentally (a few about that size) but have never gotten one to bite. 

[fishinwrench]

Kinda funny what Stoner said, since the ONLY place he ever spends any time is the Glaize and upper Osage.    Those things run up ALL the creeks every year.

[marcus]

every now and then ill hook em too on the missouri river ... the first time i ever hooked one i didnt know what it was after thinking about it all week i had to do research those are rare to catch anywhere u go the way i look at it i probably caught 3 in the past 10 years...anyways nice bonus fish that ones a beast

[Mitch f]

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