Record nullified after ball bearings were found in big Kansas crappie

A state fishing record for a white crappie caught last March was nullified after ball bearings were found inside it, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks spokeswoman Nadia Marji said Friday.

KDWP announced April 4 it had certified the white crappie as weighing 4.07 pounds and breaking the record after it was caught March 5 by Bobby Parkhurst at Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake No. 2.

“Five days later, KDWP received a tip from an eyewitness that the fish had first been weighed at a second location and weighed only 3.73 pounds at that time,” Marji said.

To preserve the integrity of KDWP’s state record program, KDWP game wardens met with the angler, who voluntarily presented the fish for re-examination, she said.

“When staff used a handheld metal detector to scan the fish, the device detected the presence of metal,” Marji said.

Game wardens then had an X-ray examination of the fish done at the Topeka Zoo, where two ball bearings were found inside, she said.

KDWP then reinstated the…