JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A new state record was set in Missouri after a man caught a 55-pound black buffalo fish.
Ryan Young and his guide were crappie fishing at Stockton Lake on Sunday, Oct. 13.
“I’m just in shock,” Young said about his record. “It just shows you never know what you’ll catch when you head out.”
Young was fishing with his guide, Kris Nelson, who says Young was catching everything but crappie.
“I told him on Sunday he either needed to catch a carp or a buffalo and he’d have caught every species in the lake,” laughed Nelson. “And the next time he drops his line, he hooks into something big.”
After 30 minutes and three men, they were able to get the large fish into the boat. Immediately, the group contacted their local conservation agent, assuming it could be a state record.
The black buffalo is a suckerfish and one of Missouri’s largest species of suckers. Suckerfish live at the bottom of lakes, rivers and streams. They feed on invertebrates and plants.
Being one of the dominant groups of large fish in Missouri, typically the weight of black buffalo fish could exceed all the other fishes combined.
Young’s black buffalo is the 5th state record fish recorded in 2024. The previous state record under pole-and-line was a 53-pound black buffalo caught from Wappapello Lake in 1989.
Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.
