The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) has removed a local fisherman’s state record after investigating a citizen’s claim that the fish’s weight may not be accurate.
On April 4, 2023, the KDWP awarded Bobby Parkhurst with a new state record after he reeled in a white crappie weighing 4.07 pounds, the KDWP told Fox News Digital.
Five days after certifying the record, the KDWP received a tip from an eyewitness who made claims against the fisherman and whether his catch was valid.
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The tip stated that the fish had been weighed at separate locations and at one point “weighed only 3.73 pounds,” according to the KDWP.
Kansas fisherman Bobby Parkhurst set a new state record in 2023, but after officials received a tip from an eyewitness and steel weights were inside the stomach of the fish, the record was nullified. ( Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks)
In an effort to “preserve the integrity” of the department’s state record program, game wardens reached out to Parkhurst for a re-examination.
The angler voluntarily presented the department with his fish, according to the KDWP.
“When staff used a handheld metal detector to scan the fish, the device detected the presence of metal,” Nadia Marji, chief public affairs and engagement officer with the KDWP, shared in a statement with Fox News Digital.
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“Wardens then took the fish to the Topeka Zoo for X-ray examination where it was revealed that two steel ball bearings were inside the crappie,” Marji said.
At one point, the fish “weighed only 3.73 pounds” before the weight was measured at 4.07 pounds, according to the KDWP. (iStock)
The findings within the stomach of the fish resulted in the removal of Parkhurst’s record. The KDWP has since made the fish available to return to Parkhurst, Marji added.
The KDWP then reinstated the previous state record set by Frank Miller in 1964 after Miller caught a 4.02 pound, 17.5 inch white crappie.
Fox News Digital reached out to Parkhurst for comment.
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The case has not been tried in a court of law, so the department cannot comment on how the steel balls got inside the fish.
Game wardens brought the fish over to the Topeka Zoo for an X-ray examination and images showed that steel weights were sitting inside the crappie’s stomach. (Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks)
This is not the first time officials have had to investigate a weighted fishing scandal.
Two Ohio fishermen were sentenced to ten days in jail last year and had to forfeit their boat, valued at $100,000, after admitting to stuffing fish with lead weights in an attempt to win prize money during a state fishing tournament, the AP reported.
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The duo pleaded guilty to the finding of lead weight and fillets inside five walleyes, and as a part of their plea, they agreed to a three-year suspension on their fishing licenses, the AP continued.
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