Tilapia Record Part of the Family

First posted on 12-06-2011

The tilapia tradition continues.

Sheila Easterly of Little Rock caught a 3-pound, 8-ounce tilapia Oct. 26 on Camp Robinson in Pulaski County. Her fish topped the previous mark of 3 pounds, 7 ounces caught by Dennis Show of North Little Rock Oct. 9, 2008.

Catching record tilapia is in Easterly’s blood. She set the state record at 1 pound, 12 ounces Sept. 5, 2004, while fishing at Lake Hogue. Herman Hangii, Sheila’s father, caught a 1-pound, 14-ounce tilapia Sept. 18, 2004, that broke his daughter’s record. Phillip Easterly, Sheila’s late husband, topped his father-in-law’s catch with a 2-pound, 4-ounce fish from Mallard Lake Sept. 24, 2005. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission stocked lakes Hogue and Mallard with tilapia, which die when water temperature drops, usually during late November.

Easterly said she weighed the latest record at Joey B’s Grocery in Little Rock. It was identified by several AGFC fisheries biologists.

Several anglers held the record between 2005 and Easterly’s most-recent mark.