ROGERS, Ark. — A Northwest Arkansas angler has set a new state record for paddlefish while fishing at Beaver Lake.
According to a release from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC), Mike Schleeper of Garfield made it into the record books after reeling in a 127-pound paddlefish on June 15.
The behemoth catch squashes the previous record of 118 pounds, caught by James Johnson in 2020.
AGFC says that while Beaver Lake has gained a reputation for bass, crappie, and striper fishing, a "string of state records for paddlefish" is putting it on the map for all species.
"Schleeper was trolling brooder minnows around 30 feet deep near Point 6 with his good friend and fishing partner Tom Mayberry when the catch occurred," AGFC said.
“I’ve been fishing for stripers up here for about 13 years, and I’ve had the chance to catch some stripers over 30 pounds, but this was different,” Schleeper said. “It didn’t strip line and stop in surges like big stripers do, he just sort of pulled the rod down and kept going. I couldn’t turn him, so we had to follow him with the trolling motor for about the first 20 minutes.”
Schleeper said the fight to reel the monstrous fish in lasted around 45 minutes.
“I’d thought maybe it was a really big striper, but then we could finally see it a little bit. It looked like a giant catfish at first, but as we got it closer to the boat, we realized what it was," Schleeper said.
Once the fish was close, Schleeper and Mayberry discovered that their net wasn't big enough and ended up wrestling it onto the boat. Eventually, the pair worked a rope through the fish's mouth to get it onboard.
“As soon as the fish fell to the bottom of the boat, the hook popped free,” Schleeper said. “We got really lucky.”
AGFC says that while the fish had been hooked on its pectoral fins, and snagged fish don't typically count toward state records, paddlefish are exempt because they don't usually bite lures.
AGFC's Northwest Arkansas fisheries supervisor Jon Stein says that the catch is the latest of major paddlefish catches in Beaver Lake over the past few years.
“Thankfully, paddlefish continue to do well in other rivers, and the Beaver Lake fish were never needed,” Stein said. “However, these fish are producing great trophy potential for anglers.”
AGFC says that paddlefish are the oldest surviving animal species in North America and even predate some dinosaurs.
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