cord smith record redear sunfish oklahoma

TROPHY TUESDAY: Sunfish caught by Oklahoma teen smashes 50-year record

Young Mr. Cord Smith just caught the biggest sunny in Oklahoma history, a redear sunfish of a whopping 13.5 inches in length!

Redears may not be freshwater beasts, but snagging one at this size is a true rarity. As the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) celebrates, “Cord’s catch tipped the scales at an impressive 2 pounds 5.6 ounces, measuring 13.5 inches in length. Well done young man!”

Smith’s trophy breaks a 50-year record that’s been the benchmark in Oklahoma since 1973. He beat that classic catch by over 4 oz. Well done, indeed, young angler!

Redear Sunfish Record/AnglerWeightLocation
New Oklahoma state record, Cord Smith2 lbs, 5.6 ozOK
Previous Oklahoma state record2 lbs, 1.5 ozOK
World record, Thomas M. Farchione6 lbs, 4 ozAZ

“Congratulations to Cord Smith from Cheyenne, OK, for reelin’ in the new state-record redear sunfish from a pond in Roger Mills County! Cord’s catch tipped the scales at an impressive 2 pounds 5.6 ounces, measuring 13.5 inches in length. Well done young man!”

ODFW

As impressive as Cord’s trophy is, the redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) can almost triple the weight of his catch. As the IGFA All-Tackle World Record shows (table above), Thomas M. Farchione holds the world champ of an astounding 6 pound, 4 ounce weight. That’s a big redear.

The Day Cord Smith Caught His Record Redear Sunfish

According to Outdoor Life, Smith and his schoolmate Jacob Suarez went straight from their Monday Cheyenne High School classes to fish a farm pond near his home in Roger Mills County, OK on April 10, 2023. From a modest paddleboat, Smith reeled in his record redear.

Fishing the banks, Smith put a synthetic curly-tail grub to the test on his Zebco Slingshot sporting 6-pound test line – and scored big. To the teens’ surprise, they’d landed a shellcracker, which prefer natural bait. But there they were with the biggest redear sunfish they’d ever seen on a plastic lure.

Smith has his friend to thank for the record, too. As he was about to release the whopper, Suarez said they might have a record sunny on their boat. So the boys gave Smith’s father, Brian, a call.

“I told them I’d check with the local game warden, Tucker Blackburn, to see what they should do next,” Mr. Smith, who’s also the local sheriff, tells Outdoor Life. “I checked with Tucker. Then I called [the boys] back and told them to keep it alive, and that we’d meet them in Cheyenne to have it weighed.”

Courtesy of a certified scale at the local supermarket, Cord Smith had himself an OK record-smashing sunfish. Now, he plans to have it mounted like the proper trophy it is.

Congrats again, Cord! For more Trophy Tuesday anglers, see our ‘Monster’ alligator gar is likely new world record and Paddlefish record shattered with largest fish ever caught in Tennessee next.