iStockphoto / Piter1977
A man in Jefferson City, Missouri only needed three days in the new year to break a perch fishing record. It happened after he joked to his wife that he was going out to break a fishing record and well, he did exactly that.
Jeffrey Needles of Lake Lotawana set the first state fishing record of the year in Missouri when he caught a 12-ounce yellow perch outof Lake Lotawana using a throwline.
The state of Missouri has a set of fishing records classified under ‘alternate methods’ and the previous record for yellow perch was a 10-ounce fish caught in a private pond in 2019, according to a press release from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Speaking with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Jeffrey Needles explained how he joked he’d catch a record and then it actually happened. He said “I’d talked about breaking this record a lot. We’ve always had yellow perch in Lake Lotawana, and I thought, ‘What if I did a throwline for alternative records?’ My wife asked me what I was doing that day and I jokingly told her, ‘I’m going out to break the record for yellow perch!’”
Photo via Jeffrey Needles / Missouri Department of Conservation
He added “A big driver was I wanted to get the state record for yellow perch, and I also wanted to be the first state record of 2024, so I knew I needed to get it done quickly.”
His kids were there with him when he set the new alternative fishing record which made it even more special. And it all began because of weekly fishing tournaments with his buddies where they’d identified perch that were large enough to set a state fishing record. Catching them, however, would prove to be tricky.
Perch are notoriously stingy when it comes to biting a hook. So the alternate method of a throwline actually proved to be the difference maker for Needles.
After catching, measuring, and weighing the fish on a certified scale he was able to successfully release it back into the lake alive. Jeffrey Needles will now have a replica made of his new perch fishing record, according to the press release.