Missouri Man Catches Rare 50-Pound Fish

Troy Staggs was fishing in the Lake of the Ozarks when he felt a tug on his line. What started out as just another day as an angler, ended up in surprise.

According to Fox News, this was no ordinary tug. It took Skaggs 47 minutes to reel in a rare 50-pound Sturgeon. The photos provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation show Staggs measuring the fish in his boat.

The Dept. of Conservation took to Facebook to tell followers of the catch:

"It was 56 inches long, weighed 50–55 pounds, and is around 30 years old. This was the sixth lake sturgeon reported from LOZ since 2016. Instead of snagging the fish, his fishing tackle wrapped around its tail! It took him 47 minutes to bring the fish to the boat, where he took a quick measurement, snapped a few pictures, and released the fish back into the lake. Lake sturgeon can live to over 100 years old and reach over 200 pounds. They are Missouri’s longest-lived animal and our second largest fish. They become adults at around 25 years and move into tributary streams to spawn. This makes them more visible as the fish frequently spawn in shallow water."

This is the second lake sturgeon that Staggs has caught in the Lake of the Ozarks.