press launch<\/a>. \u201cWe were on my friend\u2019s new boat, trying it out, when I reeled it in. I didn\u2019t know what it was, a sucker or a carp. It was my friend who said it could be a state record.\u201d<\/p>\nThe fish weighed 11 kilos 5 ounces on licensed scales in Jefferson City and was verified by MDC employees. Uebinger\u2019s catch beat the Missouri document for blue sucker, which was taken within the Missouri River in April 1997 by Randy Christian, weighing 9 kilos 14 ounces.<\/p>\n
Uebinger\u2019s fish additionally crushes the present IGFA all-tackle world document for the species. That IGFA document is simply 2 kilos 12 ounces, caught from the East Fork of the White River in Indiana in April 2022 by angler Steven Wozniak.<\/p>\n
Christian\u2019s 9-pound 14-ounce Missouri blue sucker seemingly would have set the IGFA world document if he\u2019d entered his fish with the affiliation. But Uebinger\u2019s sucker is the highest fish as we speak and will likely be a world document if paperwork is filed with IGFA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be amazing to have a world record,\u201d mentioned Uebinger. \u201cEspecially on a fish you weren\u2019t targeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
While blue suckers are a tasty desk fish and traditionally thought of a staple meals, Uebinger has different plans for his catch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI contacted several taxidermists,\u201d he mentioned. \u201cBeing in the carp family, it\u2019s a little difficult to mount and it would have to be custom-made. Luckily, I did find a place in Springfield that would mount it, so I\u2019ve currently got the fish wrapped up and frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ NEXT: Rookie Bowfisherman Shoots Missouri\u2019s New State-Record Redear Sunfish<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nAll About Blue Suckers<\/h2>\n
Blue suckers are backside feeders with a large distribution all through the Mississippi and Missouri river drainages. They are native to the U.S. and Mexico and are present in a number of states together with Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, and within the Gulf of Mexico drainage within the Rio Grande and Sabine rivers. Massive colleges of blue suckers as soon as migrated all through the\u00a0Mississippi River\u00a0basin. They are rarer as we speak, seemingly due to the segmentation of habitat brought on by dams. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n