NEW MISSOURI RECORD SET FOR FLIER

PUXICO - Webster's New World Dictionary lists six definitions for the word "flier." None of them involves a skinny little sunfish native to Missouri ponds in southeastern Missouri. But thanks to one young man's encyclopedic knowledge of angling lore, Missouri has a new state-record flier.

Anthony Stifford was fishing at a pond just outside his home town of Puxico the afternoon of March 15 when he hauled in a fish big enough to cover the palm of his hand. Stifford, 16, figured it was fish, not a super fish. But then the teenager's older brother showed up with a college pal. The friend, Wappapello resident Jimmy Fox, just happened to know the man who was the current flier state record holder.

It was clear to Fox that the younger Stifford had a contender for the state flier title, so Stifford spared the fish from the filet knife and had it checked by Conservation Agent Michael Plunkett. Sure enough, it turned out to be a new record, tipping the scales to 10.88 ounces. The previous record, held by Wappapello's Gary Stilts, weighed less than half that. It came from nearby Mingo National Wildlife Refuge.

"I knew it was big, but I had no idea what it was or that it might be a record," said Stifford.

Not so with a state-record yellow bullhead catfish caught by Robert Maddux, of Holden. Maddux, 53, not only knew he had a potential record on his hands, he even knew the fish.

"Last year my brother-in-law and I were fishing the same hole, and we caught this bullhead. I know it was the same fish because I don't believe they made two of them like this. We took some pictures and finally turned it loose 3 1/2 miles downstream from where we caught him. This fish went right back to that same hole. When I netted him this time and put him in the boat, I said, `Well there he is. By golly, this time he's going for the record.'"

And a record it was. Maddux's yellow bullhead weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces. The weight was checked by Conservation Agent Mike Burton, and the species was verified by Fisheries Biologist Ron Dent. The previous state-record yellow bullhead was a 5-pound, 12-ounce fish that came out of a farm pond near Kansas City. The current world record is three pounds shy of Maddux's lunker catfish. But his fish won't qualify for that distinction, because it wasn't caught on a hand-held line.

Maddux caught the fish on a bank line May 19 while fishing on Big Creek about 10 miles south of his hometown, Holden. The huge bullhead bit a live sunfish suspended from a 7-foot ash sapling that Maddux cut with his hunting knife. The bait was suspended just off the bottom of a deep hole, probably about 6 feet down.

"I use 3- or 5-ounce lead sinkers to hold the bait down," said Maddux. "If the current is heavy, I might use two sinkers. I put a swivel below the sinker and tie the hook on a foot below that, so the bait just swims in a little circle. I hook the bait fish half or three-quarters of an inch down from the top of the back."

Maddux said his method works so well that his family eats fish regularly for five weeks or so in May and June. He also manages to lay up enough catfish in his freezer to last through the winter. Most years he boats several 20- or 25-pound flathead and blue catfish, and some years he lucks into a 50-pounder.

Big Creek is a feeder stream for Harry S Truman Reservoir, and Maddux says the catfishing in the creek has improved drastically since the lake was filled."Used to be if we caught a 20-pound cat a year, we had a powerful good year," Maddux said. "After Truman Lake went in, it made the flatheads pretty available. Now the blue cats are coming up, and we used to never have blue cats."