This week, more details emerged about the strange back pedaling of a white crappie that was previously accepted as a state record in April of 2023 but was later vacated in October after some details emerged that showed the catch may not have been legit. And just this week we got word from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks what those speculated details are.
Bobby Parkhurst caught the white crappie in March of 2023 and submitted it for state record status at 4.07 pounds. And, in April of 2023, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks accepted his application for a state record. Shortly thereafter, KDWP received a witness tip saying the same fish had been weighed at a local store at 3.73 pounds, and they were confused as to why that fish had now been submitted as the heavier fish for the record. state.
KDWP went to Parhurst’s home and asked to check on the fish because he still had it in his feeder. The fish were voluntarily submitted and KDWP officers scanned the fish with a metal detector and obtained a ping. So they sent the fish to the Topeka Zoo where it was x-rayed and found to have two large bearings inside it.
“To maintain the integrity of the Kansas Parks and Wildlife Department (KPWD) state record program, KDWP Game Wardens met with the angler who voluntarily submitted his fish for re-examination,” said KDWP spokeswoman Nadia Marji. “When staff used a handheld metal detector to scan the fish, the device detected the presence of metal.”
KPWD invalidated the angler’s catch as a state record, reinstated the previous record from 1964 that weighed 4.02 pounds and has since made the fish available for return to the angler.
They also turned the case over to the Shawnee County District Attorney who decided not to prosecute because the evidence was insufficient to meet their burden of proof at trial.
Parkhurst has been implicated and charged with five felonies in Kansas since 2019, according to public records and was most recently convicted of felony identity theft in October for which he was sentenced to 18 months of probation in February.
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