The White River arm of Beaver Lake is a well-established walleye hot spot during the early spring. Last week, it gained some extra attention when Springdale angler Jessie Wilkes hooked into a paddlefish that topped the century mark and shattered the state record.
Wilkes and his fishing buddy, Richard Wynne, were trolling Walleye Runner crankbaits on 30-pound-test line in search of some eating-size walleye when one rod bowed under the weight of the giant fish. The paddlefish had been snagged in its side, which is not uncommon for the species. 
Regional Fisheries Supervisor Jon Stein said, “Paddlefish strain plankton from the water using their gillrakers and rarely hit a lure, so most that are caught are either intentionally snagged below dams, caught by commercial anglers in nets or are foul-hooked by anglers after other species like Mr. Wilkes’ fish.”
The fish was weighed on certified scales and measured 105 pounds. It was 65 inches long from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose. The previous state record, caught from Beaver Lake in 2007, weighed 102 pounds, 8 ounces.
Stein said the paddlefish likely was the result of stockings that took place in the late 1990s from the Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery. The species was stocked in the lake five years during the 1990s, once in 2000 and once in 2008.
“The paddlefish from that stocking are 15 years old and older, so most are likely over 60 pounds by now. But this is the largest I’ve ever seen.”