Man breaks state record, catches 140 pound paddlefish from Lake of the Ozarks

By Jackson Hicks

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — An Illinois man now holds the Missouri record for catching the largest paddlefish in the state.

The Missouri Department of Conservation shared the picture of Pittsfield, Illinois resident Jim Dain holding the monster fish, which weighed in at 140 pound and 10 ounces.

Dain caught the fish on March 18th at the Lake of the Ozarks. The previous record for a paddlefish was 140 pounds and 9 ounces, which was set in 2015 on Table Rock Lake.

According to MDC, Dain said it took at least 20 minutes before they could get the fish in the boat.

“We got 16 one-gallon bags of meat out of this catch,” laughed Dain. “We’ve fried it, grilled it and made paddlefish tacos the other night. We’ll be having paddlefish for a while!”

MDC said this is the second state record fish caught this year. The first was an eight pound, five ounce quillback that was caught on Table Rock Lake on March 15th.

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