A World Record Catch In The Gravel Pit Hole

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

When he wasn’t working at Roberts Brothers Sporting Goods in Downtown Doniphan, Lovel D. Hall was fishing. In fact, often he managed to go fishing several times a day, his wife Dorothy once told The Prospect-News. On Nov. 19, 1971, Hall immortalized himself in Current River fishing lore with an amazing catch while snagging along the bottom of the gravel pit hole below the bridge. Hall later recalled he knew it was a whopper when he felt his 20-pound test line pull hard and then disappear as he hooked the beast in the tail. Fishing alone, he patiently played the creature, wearing it down until he could heft it out of the water and into his boat. The monster was a Bigmouth Buffalo and tipped the scales at 40 pounds. It was 42 inches long with a 28-inch girth. Hall’s catch made the front page of the P-N the following week but it wasn’t until nearly three years later that the magnitude of his accomplishment was realized. In 1973, Field & Stream magazine added the buffalo species to its world records chart. With help from Joel Vance with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Hall’s catch on the Current River was recognized in May 1974 by Field & Stream as the world’s largest fresh water fish of its kind to be caught by any method. The mark stood until Aug. 19, 1976, when a 56-pound, 9-ounce record smasher was pulled from Lake Loch Loma, a private impoundment north of Poplar Bluff, by Dr. W.J. Long. Today, Hall’s wall-mounted world record can be seen at the Current River Heritage Museum in Doniphan.

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