25-pound monster hauled from Perry Reservoir spillway
TOPEKA — On Aug. 8, James M. Moore, an Army sergeant major stationed at Fort Riley, landed a new state record wiper while fishing the Perry Reservoir spillway. A 10-minute battle that ended when Moore jumped into the water to grab the fish yielded a monster that weighed 25 pounds and was 33 ½ inches in girth.

"It stripped off half my line before I could get it out of the current and turned around," Moore, an avid angler who has dreamed of catching a state record for years, said of the battle.

Realizing he had a possible state record, Moore took the fish to the Perry State Park Office, where he contacted district fisheries biologist Kirk Tjelmeland. The two then met at The Bait Hut, a local bait and tackle store. Tjelmeland verified the fish was indeed a wiper and certified scales at the store said Moore's new state record would be listed at an even 25 pounds. After making application to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Pratt Operations Office, Moore waited the required 30 days before the fish was officially certified a new state record.

Moore’s catch eclipses the old record of 22.29 pounds caught five years earlier in the same location by Eudora resident Chris Wilcox.
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