Photo is courtesy of Arkansas Fish and Game Commission.
An eleven year old boy from Burlington, Kansas was fly fishing at Dry Run Creek across the boarder in Arkansas. The fishing was catch and release on a section of river open to youth and disabled fishermen only.

Levi Lenard was fishing with a new fly rod he had gotten for his birthday using a three pound test tippet and a white crystal bugger. When the fish hit, he had an idea it was a pretty good sized fish. While attempting to land the fish, a lot of splashing was going on as well as cheering from the spectators on the shore behind him. Levi had difficulty getting the fish into the net. Eventually he got the fish in head first.

Because it was catch and release, Levi had no way of being able to officially weigh and size the fish. He did take photographs and immediately gave the fish a kiss and sent him on his way back to the freedom of the river.

Stan Todd, an Arkansas Fish and Game trout biologist looked at the photographs Levi had taken and did some estimating. According to his calculations, the fish was between 30 and 32 inches in length, had a girth of approximately 20 to 22 inches and weighed in around 25 pounds – give or take a few he said.

The record for Arkansas is 19 pounds, one ounce.

Tom Remington