Bull Shoals catch by 11-year-old sets Arkansas state record

BULL SHOALS, Ark. – A tug on the line ended with an 11-year-old setting a state fishing record on June 14.

Daniel Bridgmon brought in a 1-pound 15-ounce white sucker while trout fishing with his father just below Bull Shoals Dam. Officials said the record-setting sucker is the first of its kind for that species in the state.

Daniel’s father, Thomas, said the sucker put up a solid fight before being landed. 

“We were fishing at where the big spring comes into the state park, and he was fishing a nightcrawler on the bottom,” Thomas Bridgmon said. “He thought it was a brown trout at first until we got it close enough to see it.”

Thomas Bridgmon says they weren’t sure what they had caught, much less that it was a state record.

“[Daniel] is always interested in discovering things and he really wanted to know what it was and how much it weighed,” Bridgmon said. “I called a local fly shop and they said the state park where we were at had a scale and staff that might help.”

Once they got the weight, they realized they had something and went to Mountain View to have Daniel’s catch recorded by AGFC officials, Thomas said.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission District Fisheries Supervisor Joe Chilton positively identified the fish species and witnessed the weight on certified scales.