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Bass Pro Shops Founder's Son Arrows State Record Missouri Bigmouth Buffalo

Missouri buffalo fish just don't get much bigger than this. 

A Missouri man's name, whom you might recognize, just arrowed the largest buffalo fish the state has ever seen. John Paul Morris, son of Bass Pro Shops founder, Johnny Morris, shot the big fish very recently and claimed fame in his own right. With this bigmouth buffalo, the young Morris' name is now firmly in the state record books.

"We saw this big fish cruising toward our boat in 8 feet of water," Morris stated in an interview. "All of us took a shot but none of us connected. But then the fish came up behind us and was almost surfing the wake. I don't know why that fish stayed up like it did, but I got an arrow in it and my friend got a backup arrow in it, which we do with real big fish." 

After a solid fight, the big fish found its way to the bottom of the boat. Measuring out to 39 inches in length, with a girth of 32.5 inches, they knew they had a big fish on their hands. Uncertified scales in their boat showed the fish weighing 58 pounds. Morris knew the state record was in the mid 50's, so they took it to get it certified. 

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"I knew the Missouri record was in the mid-50s, like 54 pounds, on a fish from Pomme de Terre," Morris said.  "Ours weighed 57.7 pounds on another set of scales so we knew it might be a state record."

Sure enough, after being certified, Morris' fish weighed out to 57 pounds 13 ounces, beating the 54-pound mark set back in 2015.

As of this article, the new bigmouth buffalo is in a freezer waiting for a visit to the taxidermist.

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