Missouri Yellow Perch Record Falls After Less than Two Months
By Jim Low, Missouri Dept. of Conservation
First posted on 05-13-2009
A fish from Bull Shoals Lake topped the previous mark by a quarter pound.
Some things are made to last, and then there is Brian Clapp’s fishing record.
Clapp, of Butler, captured the Missouri state record for yellow perch March 18 when he caught a 1-pound, 7-ounce fish measuring 13 inches. His fame was short-lived, however, because on May 3 Vince G. Elfrink, of Walnut Shade, landed a 1-pound, 11-ounce yellow perch measuring just a shade over 14 inches.
Elfrink hooked the fish around 2 p.m. while fishing for white bass near the upper end of Bull Shoals Lake, just about a mile from Lake Taneycomo’s Powersite Dam. Conservation Agent Charles T. Nofsinger verified the fish’s species and weight.
Elfrink said he has caught several yellow perch while fishing for white bass at Bull Shoals. He said they usually bite on minnows or jigs.
The Missouri Department of Conservation recognizes fishing records in two categories, pole-and-line and alternative methods. Elfrink’s yellow perch is a pole-and-line record. No one has ever registered a state yellow perch record for alternative methods, which include gigging, bowfishing and the use of trotlines, pole and bank lines and other set lines.
A list of Missouri fishing records, rules and entry forms are available online at http://www.missouriconservation.org. Click on keywords “Fishing” and “Browse Fishing by Subject.” The site also has information about the Conservation Department’s Master Angler program, which recognizes notable catches that fall short of records. For qualifying weights, visit http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/Documents/71.pdf
About the Photo: Vince G. Elfrink, of Walnut Shade, landed this 1-pound, 11-ounce yellow perch May 3 while bankfishing for white bass below Powersite Dam on Bull Shoals Lake. It topped the previous record, set less than two months earlier, by 4 ounces. (Photo courtesy of Megan Cummings)