While state records have been falling left and right in Missouri and Montana, the state of Oklahoma decided to get in on the fishing fun by serving up a paddlefish so big it no only rewrote the state record books, it snapped the world record.
The fish was snagged at Oklahoma’s Keystone Lake on Tuesday. The fish’s record breaking weight of 164 pounds was confirmed today by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The fish was caught by a method none as snagging, which is really the only way to consistently catch the bottom feeding paddlefish. The technique entails dragging the river bottom with a stout surf rod, heavy test line, and a large, barbless treble hook.
“We have a new WORLD- and state-record paddlefish that was snagged at Keystone Lake on Tuesday, June 22. The beast weighed 164 pounds!
Congrats to Grant Rader (left) of Wichita, Kan., on his great catch!”
Oklahoma has further cemented itself as the paddlefish capital of the world. The previous world record also hailed from Oklahoma, and was caught just last summer. That fish weighed 146 pounds, well shy of the numbers the new record put up.
The new record was caught by 18-year-old Grant Reader from Wichita, Kansas. Grant was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, but that has never held him back and he loves to fish.
He said hauling in the record breaking fish made Tuesday the best day of his life.
“It was heart-pounding, exciting-est moment of my fishing career for me.
I can’t describe it, it’s one of the greatest things ever to be able to pull in that kind of new state and world record.”
If you head to Oklahoma in pursuit of paddlefish, please remember to buy a fishing license.
Blake Shelton personally invites you to come fishing in Oklahoma.
“I’ll bet some of y’all have never heard of a paddlefish.
We got them here in my home state! Y’all come to Oklahoma where the outdoors are always open!”
