Bobby Parkhurst caught the slab crappie in stocked lake west of Topeka. Bobby Parkhurst.

Back in April 2023, an angler made national headlines after the Kansas Department of Parks & Wildlife (KDPW) announced that a giant crappie he’d caught was the biggest ever recorded in the Sunflower State. Bobby Parkhurst’s four-pound panfish broke a 60-year-old state record, according to a KDPW press release issued at the time, but it would only stay in the top spot for few short months. In November 2023, KDPW amended their press release, striking Parkhurst’s record from the books after executing a search warrant at his home and seizing the fish from his freezer.

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Parkhurst caught the crappie in dispute at Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake No. 2 near Topeka on March 5, 2023. He was fishing with a rod and reel and using a minnow for bait, KDPW said in its April press release. “As fisheries biologists, we get the chance to see a lot of big fish but this one is certainly for the books,” said KDPW assistant director of fisheries John Reinke, who measured and weighed the fish on a certified scale.

The release went on to state that Parkhurst’s crappie weighed 4.07, slightly heavier than the 4.02-pound crappie caught by Eureka’s Frank Miller in 1964. “This crappie measured in at 18 inches long and 14 inches in girth,” said Reinke. “So it truly deserves a spot on the state record list.”

Record Revoked

Parkhurst’s crappie was officially dethroned on Nov. 14, 2023 when KDPW updated its original press release with the following line: “Upon further review by KDPW officials, the crappie caught by Parkhurst could not be confirmed; therefore, the previous record for Kansas’ largest crappie still stands (Miller, 1964).”

According to reporting by KSNT.com, KDPW agents seized the frozen crappie as part of a formal investigation into paperwork that Parkhurst filed after catching the fish. “They didn’t tell me anything,” Parkhurst told the local news outlet. “I don’t understand why they’re doing this to me.”

KDPW Public Information Officer Nadia Marji told KSNT that the investigation into Parkhurst’s fish began with a tip they received after announcing his record in April of last year. “There was not an error in the verification process,” Marji said. “Rather, information supplied to the Department by the angler via his written application form was not ‘true and correct.’” If the application had been filled out accurately, she went on to say, Parkhurst’s crappie never would have made the books.

In a Feb. 3 Facebook post, Parkhurst publicly denied KDPW’s allegations against him. “I went through all the bells and whistles as I was supposed to do,” he wrote. “They certified and gave me the master angler award. I waited the 30 days that they by law have to wait for all this investigation to be done.”

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Marji did not immediately respond when contacted by Field & Stream for comment. In an interview with KSNT, she said that KDPW will withhold additional information while the case remains active.

The post Why Did Game Wardens Seize an Angler’s Record-Setting Crappie and Remove it From the Record Books? appeared first on Field & Stream.

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