New record skipjack herring

Craig Barulich of Kansas City became the most recent record-breaking angler in Missouri when he hooked a skipjack herring Nov. 12 on the Missouri River using a rod and reel. The new “pole and line” skipjack herring record weighed 3 pounds, breaking the previous state record of 2 pounds, 11 ounces. Barulich was using a 3/8-ounce white Bink’s Pro Series Spoon for bait, trying to catch walleye and saugers when he caught the skipjack herring. “The day I caught the state-record skipjack herring was the day I actually caught my first skipjack,” he said. He noticed how large one of the skipjack herrings was when he was taking it out of the cooler to freeze it for catfish bait. He weighed it and did a Google search to confirm that his fish was a possible state record. Missouri Department of Conservation staff members weighed Barulich’s skipjack herring on a certified scale at the Kansas City regional office and confirmed it was a new pole-and-line state-record skipjack herring.