JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulates Bryant Rackers of Bonnots Mill for breaking yet another state record – this time for a shorthead redhorse that weighed in at 2-pounds, 6-ounces. This is the first record for the species under alternative methods. It was caught Feb. 16 using a trotline.
The shorthead redhorse is the fifth state-record Rackers now holds. The other four records include blue sucker, skipjack herring, white perch, and sauger.
Rackers has caught all of his record fish on the Osage River.
“I do fish other places, despite what it looks like,” laughed Rackers. “But I do fish a lot on the Osage because I live pretty close to it. And it keeps supplying me with record fish!”
Like a few of his other records, Rackers says he was targeting this species of sucker.
“It was a normal spring morning and I got a hankering to do some sucker fishing with a trotline,” Rackers recalled. “So I made it up, set out some hooks, and ended up catching the redhorse. I knew one of the slots was open for the record.”
MDC staff verified the fish’s weight on a certified scale in Loose Creek. It’s the third state-record fish of 2020.
Though Rackers says he’s caught a few record-fish just by the seat of his pants, he does credit his logbook with helping him along.
“I keep a little book of all my logs,” explained Rackers. “I track what the weather is doing, how much water is being released by the dam, stuff like that.”
Rackers has made a name for himself, but he said he has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
“I know my girlfriend is getting tired of me getting all these records, because she really wants one,” he laughed. “But I’m not going to stop! I’m going to keep going. I’ve got my eye on snagging season coming up. And I’d also like to break the tie I currently have for the skipjack herring.”
Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: trotlines, throwlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl.
For more information on state-record fish, click here.
