FishRook
Like a lot of other teenagers in rural Oklahoma, 16-year-old Cord Smith just wants to spend his time outside. So after Smith and his friend Jacob Suarez wrapped up their Monday classes at Cheyenne High School on April 10, they decided to hit a farm pond near Smith’s home in Roger Mills County. While fishing from a small paddleboat, they caught a giant redear sunfish that broke a 50-year-old Oklahoma fishing record. The shellcracker weighed 2 pounds, 5.6 ounces, according to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, who made the record official on April 25. It replaces a 2-pound, 1.25-ounce redear sunfish caught from a different farm pond back in 1973.
The two young anglers worked along the banks of the small farm pond (less than an acre in size), casting curly-tail grubs rigged on lightweight jig heads. They each had a classic panfish setup: a Zebco Slingshot spooled with 6-pound test. Smith was reeling in the small soft plastic lure when the giant redear…
