Prophetstown man may hold state record for largest shovelnose; fish caught in the Rock

PROPHETSTOWN – A Prophetstown man and his nephew are on the hook for potentially breaking the state record for largest shovel-nosed sturgeon ever taken in Illinois – a record they broke within a month of each other, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources reports.

Both fish came from the Rock River, which also was home to the previous record-holder.

On Nov. 16, Troy Gustafson, 36, of Port Byron, caught a shovelnose near Hillside that weighed 9 pounds, 14.1 ounces.

The biggest shovel nose before that weighed 9 pounds, 8.2 ounces.

Then, on Dec. 12, while fishing with Troy, Marty, 58, broke Troy’s record by catching a 10 pound, 8.2-ounce shovelnose north of the Quad Cities, the younger Gustafson posted on his Facebook page, Team Catfishing Adventures.

There are a wide variety of sturgeon in the river, so making the state record official is pending the genetic verification of the fish, which will be done using samples IDNR biologists clipped from their fins.

Both fish were released after the samples were taken.

The shovelnose is the smallest of the North American sturgeons, usually topping off at around 5.5 pounds. It’s a plated, prehistoric-looking bottom-dweller with a rounded snout that points up, hence its name.

The previous state record-holder also was a caught in the Rock, in Whiteside County near Erie on Aug, 31, 2013, by Larry Morine of Erie.

The International Game Fish Association’s all-tackle record for a shovelnose is 10 pounds, 12 ounces, from a fish caught in Montana in 1985.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however, the largest ever recorded weighed 13.72 pounds.