‘Holy smokes!’ See the record-breaking fish 12-year-old caught at Montana reservoir
A 12-year-old reeled in a record-breaking fish from a reservoir in northwestern Montana, wildlife officials said.
“Holy smokes!!” one Facebook user commented after seeing a photo of the fish.
Wade Merschat of Trout Creek caught a largescale sucker from Noxon Reservoir in Sanders County on June 19, Montana Fish, Wildife and Parks said in a July 2 Facebook post.
The fish weighed 6.72 pounds and was 25.25 inches long, beating the previous record that had been set in 2008, officials said.
Back then, someone caught a 6.16-pound largescale sucker that was 23.1 inches long.
Biologists confirmed Wade’s catch July 1 and named him the new state record holder.
Wildlife officials said the largescale sucker is the “third largest family of fish in Montana with nine species, behind only the minnow and salmonid (trout) families.”
These fish typically weigh less than 5 pounds, officials said.
“I never knew that they get that big,” Cynthia Barnhart commented on Facebook.
Noxon Reservoir is in northwestern Montana, near the Idaho border.
This story was originally published July 2, 2024 at 4:48 PM with the headline "‘Holy smokes!’ See the record-breaking fish 12-year-old caught at Montana reservoir."
