JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — When Mitchell Dering got off work on March 14, he had an itch to go fishing. Dering went to Duck Creek Conservation Area with his bow and scanned the waters on one of the ditches.

Dering saw a bullhead in the water and took aim. His shot was true, and he knew the fish was big.

The next day, Dering brought the brown bullhead to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Southeast Regional Office in Wappapello to weigh the fish on a certified scale.

Dering’s brown bullhead weighed 4 pounds, shattering the previous record of 2 pounds, 7 ounces set in 1994.

This brown bullhead also tops the current bowfishing world record of 3 pounds, 4 ounces.

“That’s honestly pretty awesome,” Dering said. “I’ve bowfished for quite a while. We’ve won a few tournaments in Kentucky and Tennessee and have placed in numerous other tournaments. That’s cool, I didn’t know that!”

According to the MDC, the only self-sustaining populations of brown bullhead are located at Duck Creek and nearby Mingo National Wildlife Refuge.

Dering, who previously held the state record for spotted gar in 2019, said he plans on mounting this world-record catch.

You can look up all the Missouri fishing records at MDC.Mo.gov.