Merritt’s Millpond – a show place then and now

By: Shelia Mader

Merritt’s Millpond is to Jackson County what Disney World is to Orlando.  Fisherman still travel to Marianna to fish in the very Mill Pond that holds records for the largest shellcracker (redear sunfish) in the State and at one time in the world. It still remains the Nation’s record also.  That weight was 4.86 pounds and was caught by Joey Floyd.

As reported in an interview with Joey Floyd that appeared in the Marianna Area Digest for Summer 1986, it was a world record.

Merritt’s Millpond in Jackson County has once again produced a world record. This time, although not the first of its kind, a shellcracker weighing four pounds and 13 ounces was verified as a world record in April, 1986.

Joey Floyd, a student at Marianna High School, landed the hefty fish. His prize catch overtook the old record of four pounds and three ounces.

The big catch was made March 13 on the Millpond just above Hasty’s Fish Camp. Joey’s father, Marion Floyd, actually saved the day by netting the fish just as it was about to fall back into the water.

He caught the fish using a cricket for bait and after a six or seven minute struggle to get it out of the grass, Joey managed to pull it out of the water.

“The line broke at the hook and luckily, Daddy had the net under it,” Joey said. At first Joey said he didn’t realize his father had netted the fish. He thought he had lost it.

“I was fixing to cry,” he joked. But Marion had indeed netted the shellcracker and the pair immediately headed for shore to have the fish weighed. They took it to Chipola Outdoors, a local bait and tackle shop, and called Florida Game and Fish Commission (GFC) wildlife officers.

Then off to Woolworth’s where they entered it in the store’s shellcracker contest. Joey said the fish weighed five pounds, one ounce on the Woolworth scales, but the 4-13 5/8 was the more accurate rate.

“He’s a record; he’s going on the wall,” Joey beamed. “It feels really great.”

The National Fishing Hall of Fame, a non-profit organization based in Haywood, Wisconsin, certified the catch as a new all-tackle world record. It also became an 8-pound line class world record.

Floyd received a customized parchment certificate, a world record holder’s back and sleeve emblem, and a gold-leaf pin from the Hall of Fame.

The Jackson County area is highly known all over the state and surrounding states for its great angling. As told before, this is not the first time. Merritt’s Millpond, located east of Marianna on Highway 90 has yielded a world record shellcracker or bream or bass.