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Bill Babler
Bill Babler

By Bill Babler •

Missouri State Record Brown Trout!

 

Triploid Brown Trout, Lake Taneycomo September 4th. 2019  Girth 28 inches, length 41 1/4 inches weight Forty pounds 6 oz.  Certified Missouri State Record.

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Really at this point I have no idea for a title for this post or a reason that God made it possible for me to catch it.  It was simply his plan.  For sure a day I will never forget, with a sad note in that we were not able to get it properly released even with the amount of care that we provided.  Again it was not to be and there is a reason for everything.

On a much brighter note, I just caught the State Record Brown trout and got a big congratulations call from the Director of the Missouri Conservation Department.

Today was a pleasure fishing trip for me.  Seems like there has been a few lately just getting back from Alasky with Phil, but never the less my long time best friend from Grade School came down to trout fish today and we were going to get him a couple of nice plump rainbows to take home.

If you have been following our reports you know that the fish have been all over the Power Worm.  Bubble Gum.  Don't buy any.  Both Duane and I have been fishing the same stretch of water just below the restricted zone for a week.  Duane more than me, as a matter of fact I keep wanting to fish a scud in the restricted zone and he as they say, "made me do it."

None the less, since we were going to keep a couple we started  below the mouth of Fall Creek, with the Pink Worm.

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At this point I will tell you there is never a day that my equipment is not gone totally over.  I never fish terminal line or tackle two days in a row.  Never.  Everything is broken down and rebuilt, everyday.  Never fail and what I and Mark were fishing was put together last night.

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Main line on the Daiwa Fuego,   BP Excel mono in 4 lb. to a carrot float.  Below the float a Spro, sampo style swivel and then 7'6" of Orvis 6X tippet 3.1 lb. test at .005 diameter. 

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 All fished on a Rod Shop 7' Signature White River Outfitters Custom Rod.  We were using of course the pink worm.  Worm was on a 125th. oz. full micro jig.  First super glued and then cemented. Prior to Turner Jones passing, he made me 100 heads with out bodies on size 12 mustad hook.  They are very good, in the Full Micro size but a bit weak in the half micro size of 14.  These were the Full, they work perfect with the PW as the  head glues directly to a wide flat jig head surface.

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We were running a bit late and not on the water till 8 as Mark drove down about 60 miles.  Our first pass he put a nice rainbow in the boat while I got him going, just like I would on a guide trip.  Here is the great deal.  Very much unlike a guide trip I was going to get to fish.  On the second pass I grabbed a rod after he was drifting nicely and about that time a cloud came over and it got kind of dark on the water.  Looked great.  My float dipped under and before i could even lift the fish came to the surface and just swirled.  I told Mark this was a big fish, then I said a HORSE as the drag started whirling and buzzing, smooth as silk.  We were fishing a trough and the fish immediately headed for mid-stream.  By then just a 1/2 minute or so Mark had reeled in and grabbed the net.  I hit my bow switch and trimmed my main motor out of the water and pointed my trolling motor to the middle and let it pull drag keeping the rod high letting it absorb the pressure instead of the line.  The drag was set perfect, I never had to touch it, it just peeled off like string after a kite.  The fish made 2 circles in front of the boat and then headed to the back.  Went under the boat and then came out with its head up.  We were not quite ready and back he went under the boat.  He did the same thing again and we were ready.  Right into the Fish Pond net.  As we lifted him into the boat his nose went thru the basket as I lowered him and he rested on the carpet.  We immediately put him in the live well and did our best to keep him frisky and he was fantastic until he wasn't.

I have 3 people in this world that I would have loved to share that type of an experience with.  First is my son Steven and the next two are my buddy Mark and of course Phil.  However Phil and I have had similar experiences in strange lands.

Just feeling so blessed and again, right place, right time.

Good Luck 

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Phil Lilley
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I got the call just after turning onto highway 86 heading for NW Arkansas and grandkids (Jimmy & Megan's).  Bill said it was bigger than Frank.  Marsha asked if we should turn around...

Now Bill knows I love him like a brother so he won't get offended by me saying this but... he tends to exaggerate a bit.  So when he said he had a big brown, I had to make a decision... keeping heading on or turn around with the possibility he did have a bigger brown.  Sorry Bill, grand kids won.

Then Ryan sent me a pic of it on the tournament scales - then I zoomed in and saw 40 pounds.  Surely not.  I was way past Dogwood Canyon.

Duane called next.  Shane was there... it was a record. 

I started managing from the truck (not driving now).  Got ahold of Wes Johnson.  KY3.  They are always very good to us.

Told the guys to get the gopros out and start planning.  I knew they'd do their best with the fish.  If I was there, I'd be thinking about the fish and not recording it for posterity.  They needed to do both.

Then I started managing FB comments.  The fish died and I tried to explain.  At this hour, I've given up.

Shane has told us a few things about these big trout.  One - you can break their back very easily... actually they can break their own back by just twisting in the new.  That may have happened to this fish because when it went, it went fast they said - like it had a heart attack or something.  It happened way before it was taken and weighed... it was already dying, lost color.

I got all this from the guys - and I'll get even more info tomorrow when I see Duane.  I just got home from Rogers.

I don't think WE have seen this fish under our dock... not on video.  It's SO much bigger than any other trout we've seen.  But may be we can look at old underwater video and see some markings or something.  I really don't think this one had a name - and we're not about to name it since it died.  But man, think about releasing that one and letting it get just a little bit bigger.

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walleye4butch
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Bill, congratulations you got a great payback for everything you do for this forum and your clients, we haven't officially met but I have seen you several times on taney over the years and enjoy your info, you deserved this fish. 

 

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Phil Lilley
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Here's a little rebuttal I've posted on FB about the haters who say we KILLED the fish.  Yes we did... but still have to push back a bit.

The best way not to kill a big fish is to.... not go fishing #1. If you go fishing, cut your hook off and go for just strikes #2. Go fishing and if you hook a big fish, don't take it out of the water, just cut the line when it gets close #3. Go fishing and... I'm out of safe ways to keep fish alive, sorry.
 
All fun aside, bringing this fish to the dock and getting a certified weigh DID kill this fish. The last state record we handled in February - we got lucky and it survived all our handling. This fish was bigger (4th largest brown trout ever caught), much worse DO levels in the lake (45 minute fight in February and less than a 5 minute fight today) and again - the transporting to a certified scale, on land, weighed by 2 state fisheries biologists. They said we did everything right except we should have had O2 on hand and a good aerator device - that's something we'll work on for the next big brown. That and I want to build a concrete platform for the scales closer to our fish tank.
 
After the last record in February, we bought a professional set of scales and got them state certified so that we could weigh fish here at the resort instead of transporting them 6 miles to the hatchery. We thought we were ahead of the game... never thought we'd use them so soon after Frank the Tank (Feb. record).
 
We will and do own some of the criticism we're getting for handling the fish. We could have done better. Bill could have just released it and we wouldn't be talking now. But the fish was very close to it's end of life cycle, and while we would have loved to watch it swim away, the fact is we'd still be catching grief because then you'd say - it swam off and died! So we'll never win the social media battle.
 
Now I'll copy and paste this around so all those haters can read our rebuttal... and we'll call it good for now.
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