New Arkansas largemouth bass record set....

Almost 36 years to the day, Arkansas’s largemouth bass state record has finally been broken. On Tuesday, Paul Crowder of Forrest City set the new record on Lake Dunn near Wynne. Crowder’s lunker weighed 16 pounds, 5 ounces, breaking the old record by just a single ounce.

Aaron Mardis of Memphis had held the state record since March 2, 1976. Mardis’ 16-4 fish was caught on Mallard Lake near Manilla in Mississippi County.

Crowder broke the record on the afternoon of Feb. 28 using a plastic 6-inch Mann’s jelly worm with a bullet sinker and plastic rattle in tequila sunrise. He was using an Enigma rod and reel combo purchased from Bass Pro Shops. Crowder caught the fish on Trilene 14-pound-test line. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Fisheries Biologist Lee Holt certified the fish on a certified scale at Hayes Market in Wynne.

The fish measured 26 1/2 inches in length and was 22 3/4 inches in girth. Crowder said that he had been fishing all day for catfish without any luck.

The 80-acre lake is located in Village Creek State Park in Cross County. The AGFC is going to test the fish to see what genetic strain of bass it is, whether if is a pure northern strain of if it has Florida bass genes.