State Record Brown Trout Broken on Taneycomo in Branson, MO

Written by Phil & Marsha Lilley    Nov 20, 2009 at 11:15 PM Today was a good fishing day. It was a good catching day. Any day is good to be out on the water and not in the office, right? I think Scott Sandusky believes that. He caught a big fish today! It just wasn't a big fish. It was one of those big fish every angler dreams of. It was the biggest fish of its species caught ever in Missouri. We call that a state record catch. He and his buddies from Anold, MO, arrived here at Lilleys' Landing for a weekend of fellowship and fishing for trout. They started early, well early afternoon. The idea was to catch some small rainbows for dinner, then hit the restricted, trophy area tomorrow for lunkers. It didn't work out that way. They drifted downstream, using rainbow-colored, paste PowerBait, bumping it on the bottom like you're supposed to. Just below Cooper Creek, Scott set his rod in the rod holder to help with another rig. Thinking he saw a bite, Scott picked up his rod back up, set the hook and knew -- he had something big. But he didn't know what it was... a catfish? A big carp? If it was a trout, it was a really, really big trout. Then they saw it. It was a brown trout. He had his spin reel set to wind backwards -- he didn't trust the drag. Smart guy. This fish didn't want to play. He took off for the far bank, spinning off so much line, so fast, that it was all Scott could do release the handle and watch his line fly off his reel. Then he stopped. Working it closer to the boat, his team of anglers started to plan their attack. One retrieved the net and the other pulled up the trolling motor, just in time. Four-pound line doesn't last long against a prop. When most people buy a fish net, they don't expect to land a 37-inch fish, right? Scott's net could hold half this fish. It flopped in, it flopped out. Then Scott's net man, Craig, muscled up and got it in the boat. At 37 inches long and 24.75 inches in girth, and the lunker weighed 28.8 pounds, roughly a pound heavier than the previous brown trout record. All was made official by Missouri Department of Conservation officials at the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery. Shane Bush, MDC fisheries biologist and Quenten Fronterhouse, MDC enforcement agent, both helped in this process. Clint Hale, hatchery manager, was also present.