When Ryan Young battled a huge fish at Stockton Lake in Missouri, he felt a bit like David going up against Goliath…
A giant rough fish vs. ultralight crappie-fishing gear isn’t exactly a fair fight. But against all odds, the underdog won this battle.
MORE THAN HE BARGAINED FOR
During a guided crappie-fishing trip on Oct. 13, Young hooked into something much bigger than a panfish. And the chase was on.
Guide Kris Nelson released the spot lock on his trolling motor and followed the giant, which turned out to be a heavyweight black buffalo, wherever it went so that it wouldn’t break the light line.
For a half-hour, the rough fish put up the good fight, testing the light-action tackle and Young’s endurance.
“I looked at that fish on live sonar and I told Ryan, ‘You’ve got a dinosaur,’ “ said Nelson, who runs the Tandem Fly Outfitters guide service on the Ozarks reservoir.
When the fish finally surrendered and popped to the surface, everyone in the boat gasped. It took all four anglers to wrestle the fish into the boat. When the black buffalo was weighed on certified scales, it came out at 55 pounds, 9 ounces, enough to break a Missouri state record that had stood for 35 years.
The previous state record was a 53-pound fish caught in 1989 at Wappapello Lake.
The catch was especially eye-opening considering it was caught on an ultralight rod, an ice-fishing reel and 5-pound test braided line, the equipment Nelson uses to help customers detect the faint bites of crappies.
“I guess this shows that you never know what you will catch when you drop a minnow down there,” said Young, who lives in (appropriately) Buffalo, Mo. “This was like deep-sea fishing, only with a lot lighter gear.”
THE “TRASHMAN”
Perhaps this moment was meant to be. Young was fishing with Nelson as part of a corporate outing. The goal was to catch a limit of healthy crappies, something Nelson routinely puts his customers on.
But on the first day of the trip, Young caught everything else except crappies. Bluegills, channel catfish, largemouth bass, drum, white bass, walleyes …but no crappies.
By the time the group headed out the second day, it had become a joke. “They told me I had caught about every type of fish in the lake except a buffalo and a gar,” Young said with a laugh. “They were calling me the Trashman.”
But Young got the last laugh. About an hour and a half into the second day of fishing, his light-action rod bent sharply. Then the line zipped to the side, signaling that the black buffalo was ready to fight.
The fight started as the group fished a brush pile in 20 feet of water at the mouth of a major creek arm.
The giant ran as shallow as 3 feet, then circled around to deep water. When the fish finally tired, it took all four anglers to wrestle it into the boat.
The fish was weighed on certified scales and verified as a black buffalo, a fish that Missouri Department of Conservation officials estimated could have been as much as 20 years old.
NEW HOME FOR THE RECORD FISH
Young wanted to donate his catch to the Bass Pro Shops aquarium in Springfield, Mo., but the outlet was unable to pick it up. So Young babysat the fish (“That’s the first time I have petted a fish,” he joked) while Nelson rigged up one of his old round bait tanks with a makeshift aerator and lake water. Then they transported the fish via a flat-bottomed trailer.
The buffalo survived the hour-long trip from Stockton to Springfield, and is now in quarantine at Bass Pro Shops, preparing for life in the giant aquarium.
“I want other people to see this fish,” Young said. “I shop there all the time, so it will be great to go there and see it swimming around.”
