A Missouri state-record fish and possibly a world-record fish has been caught by an 11-year old angler on Tavern Creek near St. Elizabeth.

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports that 11-year old Maverick Yoakum of Dixon became the most recent record-breaking angler in Missouri when he hooked a river redhorse on Tavern Creek using a rod and reel.

The new “pole and line” record river redhorse caught by Yoakum on March 4 weighed 10-pounds, 3-ounces. The new record breaks the previous state-record and world record pole-and-line river redhorse of 9-pound, 13-ounces caught at Tavern Creek in 2016. Yoakum was using worms when he caught the fish. MDC staff verified the record-weight fish using a certified scale.

River redhorse fish are part of the sucker family. They are a moderately chubby, coarse-scaled fish with a dorsal fin containing 12 or 13 rays. These fish can be found mostly throughout the Ozarks.

Yoakum’s fish also beats the current world record, pending verification by the International Game Fish Association (IFGA). While the river redhorse does get much larger, IFGA only recognizes fish taken by pole and line.

Bennett Yoakum
Bennett Yoakum
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