By Dan Cook
chattadan@aol.com
Cleveland’s Jackie Kersey IV has his own special reason to celebrate the varied recreational offerings of Polk County’s scenic Parksville Lake. On March 10, he caught a state-record yellow perch there.
The 2-pound, 2-ounce prize recently was confirmed as the state record for the species by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. It was 143/4 inches long.
Fishing from a boat with brothers Jimmy and Billy Headrick, Kersey caught the perch with a shiner. The three were casting for bass at the time – often the case when an unusually large panfish is nabbed, records-keepers say.