Harrisonville man lands second state record in two years
The hefty black bullhead came from a farm pond in Cass County.
HARRISONVILLE–Missouri has a new state-record black bullhead, and Nicholas J. Wray has his second fishing record in less than two years.
Wray, 23, caught the 2-pound, 4-ounce fish on a jug line April 9 at a farm pond in Cass County. The bullhead nudged aside the previous record by 4 ounces.
In 2008, Wray caught Missouri’s first state-record river carpsucker, a 2-pound, 3-ounce fish that came from Cass County’s South Grand River near Amarugia Highlands Conservation Area. He did it by design, having noticed that no one had bothered to apply for a record for the species previously.
Wray’s latest record fish measured 15 1/8 inches from nose to tail. Black bullheads seldom grow longer than 16 inches and 2 pounds. Missouri’s pole-and-line record for black bullhead is 4 pounds, 11 ounces.
Two other species – brown and yellow bullheads – tend to be smaller than the black bullhead. Yet, Missouri’s pole-and-line record yellow bullhead outweighed its black counterpart by more than 2 pounds. The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisc., recognizes an 8-pound, 15-ounce behemoth from Michigan as the world record black bullhead. That is nearly four times the weight of Wray’s fish.
These might indicate that heftier black bullheads haunt Missouri waters, waiting to be caught and registered as records.
The pole-and-line category is for fish taken on hand-held lines. Alternative methods include trotlines, throw lines, limb lines, bank lines, tree lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, gigging, grabbing (with the use of a hook) and archery.
Entry forms and rules are available at mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/Documents/72.
-Jim Low-
Missouri Fishing Info
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