press release<\/a>. \u201cWe were on my friend\u2019s new boat, trying it out, when I reeled it in. I didn\u2019t know what it was, a sucker or a carp. It was my friend who said it could be a state record.\u201d<\/p>\nThe fish weighed 11 pounds 5 ounces on certified scales in Jefferson City and was verified by MDC staff. Uebinger\u2019s catch beat the Missouri record for blue sucker, which was taken in the Missouri River in April 1997 by Randy Christian, weighing 9 pounds 14 ounces.<\/p>\n
Uebinger\u2019s fish also crushes the current IGFA all-tackle world record for the species. That IGFA record is only 2 pounds 12 ounces, caught from the East Fork of the White River in Indiana in April 2022 by angler Steven Wozniak.<\/p>\n
Christian\u2019s 9-pound 14-ounce Missouri blue sucker likely would have set the IGFA world record if he\u2019d entered his fish with the association. But Uebinger\u2019s sucker is the top fish today and will be a world record if paperwork is filed with IGFA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be amazing to have a world record,\u201d said Uebinger. \u201cEspecially on a fish you weren\u2019t targeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
While blue suckers are a tasty table fish and historically considered a staple food, Uebinger has other plans for his catch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI contacted several taxidermists,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing in the carp family, it\u2019s a little difficult to mount and it would have to be custom-made. Luckily, I did find a place in Springfield that would mount it, so I\u2019ve currently got the fish wrapped up and frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ NEXT: Rookie Bowfisherman Shoots Missouri\u2019s New State-Record Redear Sunfish<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nAll About Blue Suckers<\/h2>\n
Blue suckers are bottom feeders with a wide distribution throughout the Mississippi and Missouri river drainages. They are native to the U.S. and Mexico and are found in several states including Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, and in the Gulf of Mexico drainage in the Rio Grande and Sabine rivers. Massive schools of blue suckers once migrated throughout the\u00a0Mississippi River\u00a0basin. They are rarer today, likely because of the segmentation of habitat caused by dams. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n