JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – An Illinois man broke the record for snagging the biggest paddlefish in Missouri. Jim Dain of Pittsfield, Ill. caught a 140-pound, 10-ounce paddlefish March 18 at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Dain was on a fishing trip with his family and almost didn’t go out on the boat because the weather kept changing.

“The forecast was calling for storms, and then it changed to no rain, so we went out, but it just kept getting colder,” Dain told the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). “We weren’t having much luck, but decided to fish for another hour so we took another turn. And that’s when the drag on the reel started. It felt like a tree was on the line!”

Dain said they struggled for at least 20-minutes working to get the fish in the boat. When he reached the boat dock, Dain ran into a man who was the state record holder for river carpsucker. He suggested Dain reach out to the MDC.

Dain called MDC and an agent suggested he visit a location with a certified scale and one that could handle a catch of more than 100-pounds.

“We got 16 one-gallon bags of meat out of this catch,” laughed Dain. “We’ve fried it, grilled it and made paddlefish tacos the other night. We’ll be having paddlefish for a while!”