Angler caught a fish that broke a near 60-year record. Now the Kansas title is revoked
UPDATE: State officials, acting on an eyewitness tip, re-examined a crappie caught in March that set a new state record, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks told McClatchy News via email Feb. 16.
The witness told officials the fish initially weighed in at 3.73 pounds, not the record-setting 4.07 pounds originally reported, according to the KDWP.
Game wardens, with permission from angler Bobby Parkhurst, used a handheld metal detector to re-examine the fish. The test revealed the presence of metal, officials said.
Further evaluation via X-ray revealed two steel ball bearings inside the crappie, a photo shows.
“As a result, the Department later nullified the angler’s catch as a state record, reinstated the previous state record (Miller, 1964) and have since made the fish available for return to the angler,” the KDPW said. Frank Miller, of Eureka, had caught a 4.02-pound crappie in 1964, officials said.
Parkhurst’s record was revoked in November, records show.
“I caught that fish legally and honestly,” Parkhurst said in a Feb. 3 Facebook post. “ ... They have now slandered my name.”
The original story is below.
Bobby Parkhurst was fishing at a Kansas lake, unaware a fish that “loomed beneath the surface, ready to strike” was about to break a state record.
That fish was an “enormous” white crappie — one so big that Kansas wildlife officials described it as a “catch-of-a-lifetime.”
Parkhurst was fishing at Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake No. 2 in northeast Kansas on March 5 when the crappie bit on his lure, according to an April 4 news release from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. He was using minnow as bait.
The Topeka angler said he reeled the large fish in, then he had the fish inspected.
John Reinke, assistant director of fisheries for the Kansas department, measured and weighed the white crappie, according to the release.
“The lunker catch was put on a certified scale where it was recorded as weighing 4.07 pounds – the equivalent of six cans of soup,” officials said. It measured in at 18 inches long and 14 inches in girth.
“As fisheries biologists, we get the chance to see a lot of big fish but this one is certainly for the books,” Reinke said in the release.
Parkhurst’s catch broke a state record that was set in 1964, officials said. Frank Miller, of Eureka, had reeled in a 4.02-pound white crappie.
“The white crappie is abundant across Kansas and ideally suited to the large reservoirs,” according to state officials. “Known for its prolific numbers and delicious white meat, the white crappie is one of the most popular sportfish in the state. The rich waters of northeastern Kansas reservoirs produce some of the finest fishing for slab-sided white crappie found anywhere in the U.S.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2023 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Angler caught a fish that broke a near 60-year record. Now the Kansas title is revoked."
