The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission certified six state fishing records in 2021, including the underwater spearfishing channel catfish mark that was broken twice in eight days. It was a record that had stood for more than 20 years.
Here are the records:
• Brionna Schafer of Alliance set a bow-and-arrow record when she took a 6-pound, 6-ounce white sucker April 25 at Box Butte. It beat the old bow-fishing state record, which also was taken from Box Butte, by just over a half-pound.
• On June 13, Hunter Jordan of Hemingford speared a 27-pound, 5-ounce channel cat – also from Box Butte Reservoir – to set the new underwater spearfishing record.
• Anthony Borghi of Ogallala speared a 26-pound, 9-ounce channel catfish at Box Butte Reservoir in Dawes County on June 5 to set an underwater spearfishing record.
• Marlyn Wiebelhaus of Wynot broke his own bow-and-arrow record for black buffalo July 28 when he took a 16-pound, 10-ounce fish from the Missouri River in Cedar County. His previous record was 7 pounds, 15 ounces.
• Steven Carel of DeWitt pulled a 1-pound, 14-ounce green sunfish through a hole in the ice Jan. 3 on Clatonia 3A Reservoir in Gage County to set a rod-and-reel record. He caught the fish on a waxworm. It beat, by 3 ounces, the previous mark, set in October 2020. Prior to that, the record had stood for 20 years.
• Walton Moore of North Platte, using a minnow for bait, caught the rod-and-reel record tiger trout March 11 at the inlet to Sutherland Reservoir in Lincoln County. The fish weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and measured 25¾ inches in length.
To see a list of Nebraska’s state-record fish, visit outdoornebraska.gov/nebraskafishspecies/#record. To read the state record rules, see the 2022 Nebraska Fishing Guide at outdoornebraska.gov/guides.