New Taney County agent has long connection with MDC

Chris Boyd is the new Taney County Conservation Agent. He is familiar with southwest Missouri and with the Missouri Department of Conservation. He grew up in Bolivar where his father was the Polk County Conservation Agent for a number of years.

Boyd follows in father's footsteps as conservation agent.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A life-long connection with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and a love of southwest Missouri will help Chris Boyd in his newest assignment – MDC Conservation Agent for Taney County.

Boyd began his new duties as Taney County Conservation Agent on July 16. He replaces Charles Nofsinger, who was promoted to Protection Division District Supervisor in MDC’s Kansas City Region. Boyd will work alongside fellow Taney County Conservation Agent Quenten Fronterhouse.

Boyd has long been familiar with the duties and responsibilities of a conservation agent. His father, Brian Boyd, is a retired conservation agent who spent much of his career as MDC’s Polk County agent. The younger Boyd is a Bolivar native.

“As a kid, all I wanted to do was move away from southwest Missouri, but as an adult, I’ve been trying to get back to this area,” he said. “When you’re away from this area, you quickly realize just how great southwest Missouri really is and the great values people have in this area. I’m excited to raise my son in the same area where I grew up and instill those same values that I learned growing up.”

After graduating from Bolivar High School in 2002, Boyd attended Central Missouri State University and graduated with a criminal justice degree in 2006. He was a deputy in the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department in Florida for three years before becoming a conservation agent with MDC in 2009. He was a conservation agent in Jefferson County for six years prior to taking his current position.

Boyd can be reached at 417-546-0833. Individuals are reminded that game law violations can also be reported to the Operation Game Thief Hotline, 1-800-392-1111.

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Taney County angler catches record striped bass

Lawrence Dillman of Rockaway Beach caught this 65-pound, 2-ounce state-record striped bass at Bull Shoals Lake on May 21, 2015.

Congratulations to Lawrence Dillman on breaking state-record by catching 65-pound, 2-ounce striped bass at Bull Shoals Lake.

BULL SHOALS LAKE (TANEY COUNTY, Mo.) – Lawrence Dillman of Rockaway Beach became the most recent record-breaking angler in Missouri when he hooked a giant striped bass on Bull Shoals Lake using a rod and reel. The new “pole and line” record striped bass caught by Dillman on May 21 weighed 65 pounds, 2 ounces with a length of 49 ¾ inches and a girth of 36 inches. Dillman used 20-pound test line and a chub minnow to catch the behemoth.

“I fought the giant for over 45 minutes until I got him to shallow water,” Dillman said. “I then bear hugged the fish and got it out of the water on to the bank.”

The new giant broke the previous pole and line state-record striped bass of 60 pounds, 9 ounces caught on Bull Shoals Lake in 2011.

Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staff verified the record-weight fish using a certified scale at the MDC Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery in Taney County.

“Once the fish was on the line, I knew I had a decent one, but I didn’t at all think it was a striped bass,” Dillman said. “I thought it was a spoonbill or something else. But when I got him to the bank I knew I had something amazing!”

The longtime angler said the fish is now at Bass Pro in Springfield getting mounted.

Dillman said he fishes every day and he doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon. “I’ve caught bigger fish in the ocean, but this fish is the biggest fresh-water fish I have ever caught.”

Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: throwlines, trotlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl.

Conservation makes Missouri a great place to fish. For more information on state-record fish, visit the MDC website at mdc.mo.gov/fishing/state-record-fish.