Man Caught 55-Pound Black Buffalo, Setting New Missouri State Record

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A new state record was set in Missouri after a man caught a 55-pound black buffalo fish.

Ryan Young and his guide were fishing for crappie in Stockton Lake on Sunday, October 13th.

“I’m in shock,” Young said of his record. “It just goes to show you never know what you’re going to get when you leave.”

Young was fishing with his guide, Kris Nelson, who says Young was catching everything but crappie.

“I told him on Sunday he needed to catch a carp or a buffalo and he would have caught every species in the lake,” Nelson laughed. “And the next time he lets go of the line, he’ll hook onto something big.”

After 30 minutes and three men, they managed to get the big fish into the boat. The group immediately contacted the local conservation officer, assuming it might be a state record.

The black buffalo is a sucker fish and one of the largest sucker species in Missouri. Suckerfish live at the bottom of lakes, rivers and streams. They feed on invertebrates and plants.

Being one of the dominant groups of large fish in Missouri, typically the weight of the black buffalo fish can exceed all other fish combined.

Young’s black buffalo is the fifth state record fish recorded in 2024. The previous pole-and-line state record was a 53-pound black buffalo caught in Lake Wappapello in 1989.