Talk about a catch of a lifetime.
Rich Porter traveled down from his home in Nebraska, to the Lake of the Ozarks to go fishing with a friend a couple times a year, according to the Kansas City Star.
On May 16th, the Omaha resident made his trip down to the Ozarks for a bowfishing trip, and his buddy was “playing guide.”
At their last stop, Porter shot a sweet gar…
Except this wasn’t your basic gar. It was a 14-pound, six-ounce gar, more than three times the average size of the fish.
Porter weighed in:
“Shortnose gar usually only (weigh) three-to-four pounds. So, to catch one that big, we thought it was a longnose.”
The Missouri Department of Conservation says that shortnose gars are one of the smaller types of gars, with the largest in Missouri typically ranging from six to 11 pounds.
Not only was the shot a state record, but a world record as well.
Porter immediately contacted wildlife officials, making sure that it was actually a shortnose gar, and not a hybrid longnose gar.
Needless to say, the fish qualified, and Porter now holds the Missouri state record for alternative methods for shortnose gar and the shortnose gar bowfishing world record.
Porter expressed his excitement:
“I’m a long-standing member of the Bowfishing Association of America so to catch a gar of this size is very exciting– it’s something else.”
The previous record was set at 13-pounds, one-ounce.
