Man sets new state record by reeling in over 55-pound black buffalo fish, officials say

STOCKTON, Mo. (KY3/Gray News) - A fisherman has the new weight record for a black buffalo caught in Missouri.

According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, Ryan Young caught a buffalo fish weighing 55 pounds and 9 ounces. It was also 45 inches long and 30.5 inches wide.

“The pole just sunk on me,” said Ryan Young, who reeled in the massive fish off Hawker Point, a section of Stockton Lake, Sunday morning.

While with a fishing guide, Young said he snagged the buffalo fish with a 5-pound line, a crappie rod and a minnow for bait.

He said it took him and the three other men on the boat around 30 minutes to reel in the fish Sunday morning while they were near Hawker Point in Stockton Lake.

“We called it a dinosaur,” he said. “I didn’t know what it was.”

Missouri officials said the previous record for a pole and line catch of a black buffalo fish in Missouri was 53 pounds on April 6, 1989.

“This was a total fluke. I mean, it’s one in a million that this would ever happen,” Kris Nelson, Young’s fishing guide, said.

Young said he already has an idea of what he plans on doing with the fish.

“I think it needs to be given to Bass Pro,” he said. “It’s a hometown fish. Let’s get in that aquarium.”

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