State Record Update, Archery and Surface Spearfishing

I have blogged about some of the state record and near-state record fish that have been caught by hook & line recently ( http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/11/exceptional-fish/ , http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/10/state-record-news/ , http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/10/state-record-paddlefish/ , http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/10/stop-presses-big-huge-fish/ ), but I have some others to tell you about and they have been setting on my desk for awhile.  I usually hold state record applications for some time until I have a batch of them to do, but I do not always wait this long.  To those of you that have been waiting on your state record certificates, sorry, it is strictly my fault for taking so long.  Anyway, let me tell you about the pile that has been sitting on the right side of my desk.

Surface Spearfishing

The first fish I will tell you about is one taken by surface spearfishing.  It was a 2 pound 12 ounce quillback carpsucker taken by Dustin Noble of Gothenburg back on July 23.  Previously, we had no state record for quillback carpsucker taken by surface spearfishing, so Dustin has set the bar.  Dustin’s fish was 18 inches long and was speared from a private sandpit in Dawson County.

Dustin’s name is found throughout our state records, especially the spearfishing categories.  I will tip my hand here and tell you that you will be seeing more of Dustin’s name in future state record updates.

Bowfishing

I have several new bowfishing state records to tell you about.  The first is a 15 pound 12 ounce river carpsucker taken by Damon Schellenberg of Fremont.  Damon arrowed his 28-inch record fish from a private sandpit in Dodge County back on July 2.  Our previous archery record river carpsucker was a 9 pound 14 ounce fish taken by Tyler Stromquist back in 2009.  Damon pretty much shattered that record and I am betting his mark stands for some time.

Next is a 1 pound 1 ounce redear sunfish taken by Ryan Reynolds of Lexington.  Ryan’s big redear was 11 inches long and was collected from a private pond in Gosper County back on July 10.  This new bowfishing state record redear doubled the old state record; a fish that had been on the books since 2005.  Certainly we see some redears bigger than a pound in Nebraska, but Ryan’s fish is very respectable.

A goldfish taken by bow and arrow on August 1 is the next fish to hit the record books.  Matthew Mulder of Fremont collected his trophy goldfish from Fremont Lakes State Recreation Area, Lake #16.  That goldfish weighed 4 pounds 8 ounces and was 17 inches long.  Matthew’s fish is another one that shattered the previous bowfishing state record goldfish of 1 pound 8 ounces taken from Pawnee Reservoir by Jim Foral just a couple years ago.  A 4 1/2-pound goldfish is a MAMMOTH goldfish and I am betting Matthew is our bowfishing record holder for that species for a long time.

Matthew looks like he is a serious bow-fisher!

Lastly, the bow-fisher with the best aim in this update is Shawn Church of Elwood.  Shawn managed to stick a 3 ounce, 7 3/8-inch creek chub with his bow back on August 14.  I doubt that creek chub peeled much line off of Shawn’s bow after he shot it, but I know it took a good aim to hit that fish!  Nice shooting!  Shawn found his bowfishing record chub on a tributary to the Platte River in Dawson County.  I have no state records of creek chubs taken by bow and arrow from Nebraska waters previous to this, so Shawn has set the standard and the rest of you will have to shoot for a bigger creek chub from now on.

That is all I have for now.  There are more state record applications on the corner of my desk and I promise to get around to tell you about those soon.  Congratulations to all of the anglers mentioned here!