Lynn Bumgardner told his friend he had the new Kentucky state record as soon as he saw the perch surface <\/p>\n
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Lynn Bumgardner holds his state-record yellow perch. Photograph by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Lake Barkley is famous for many things, including outstanding bass and crappie fishing. But Lynn Bumgardner, a visiting angler from Tennessee, may have added a new page to the lake\u2019s reputation by catching a Kentucky state-record yellow perch that weighed 1.58 pounds.<\/p>\n
According to a news release<\/a> from the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources, Bumgardner was trolling for crappies on March 2 in the Trigg County portion of sprawling 58,000-acre Lake Barkley. He was fishing with his long-time pal Lee Andrews, Kentucky field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, when the big perch struck a small crappie jig.<\/p>\n \u200b\u200b\u200b\u201cWe were trolling grubs in Linton Bay on Lake Barkley,\u201d Bumgardner, a professional television actor from Oliver Springs, Tennessee, told KDFWR. \u201cWhen I caught that one, I knew immediately it was a heavy fish.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair had caught crappies earlier in the day and were almost done fishing when the big perch hit Bumgardner\u2019s lure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fish rolled over and I saw the great big belly and I saw the stripes and I knew it was a perch,\u201d Bumgardner said. \u201cI said \u2018Lee, I\u2019ve caught the new state record yellow perch.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know if it really was, but it was the largest perch I\u2019d ever seen.\u201d\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n Andrews checked the state records and learned that the standing yellow perch record was 1 pound 7 ounces. He insisted that Bumgardner\u2019s fish weighed more than that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weighed it on hand-held digital scales and it was 1 pound 9 1\/8 ounces,\u201d Andrews told the agency. \u201cI told him, \u2018If it weighs that much, you do have the state record.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The pair fished for a bit longer, catching another crappie to end the day. Then they decided to head to shore and have the big yellow perch weighed. They went to a Food Giant grocery store in Cadiz, where a night manager named Braxton weighed the fish on a certified scale.<\/p>\n \u201cBraxton was very excited about weighing the big perch that night because he\u2019s a fisherman, too,\u201d store manager Amber Lehman tells Outdoor Life<\/em>.<\/p>\n Bumgardner\u2019s fish measured 14 and 1\/4 inches long and it tops the previous Kentucky record by just over two ounces. That yellow perch was caught by Klint Thaxton from Kentucky Lake in March 2010.<\/p>\n