While many 12 year olds today are busy playing Fortnite or watching their favorite video game streamer, one young boy from Montana proved that you can still win big without needing to pick up a controller or living vicariously through an online content creator.
According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, 12-year-old Wade Merschat kicked off July with a state fishing record.
You can see the congratulatory post below:
Merschat, of Trout Creek, Montana, landed a hefty largescale sucker in Sanders County on June 19.
After a processing period, Monatana FWP were ready to officially recognize the catch.
Per the organization’s Facebook post, Merschat used a nightcrawler to catch a 6.72-pound largescale sucker, which also measured at an impressive 25.25 inches long.
The young Merschat’s record is over a half-pound larger and over two inches longer than the previous record.
That record catch, which was caught in June 2008, came in at 6.16 pounds and measured 23.1 inches long.
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The post added some interesting context to Merschat’s record-breaking catch.
“The sucker family is the third largest family of fish in Montana with nine species, behind only the minnow and salmonid (trout) families,” the post noted. “The largescale sucker is native to Montana’s western drainage.
“In Montana, the maximum size is usually less than 5 pounds.”
Montana FWP keeps an updated list of various record-holders on its site, and Merschat has made the list.
Some of the mammoth records listed by the Montana FWP are impressive, but some of the biggest catches all came some time ago.
The biggest fish caught on record came in 1968 and 1973, respectively.
In 1968, Herb Stout caught a whopper 96-pound White Sturgeon in the Kootenai River.
In 1973, Larry Branstetter caught a huge 142.5-pound Paddlefish in the Missouri River.
And now Merschat — something of a local celebrity — will join the likes of Stout and Branstetter in the annals of Montana fishing history.
In case anyone in Big Sky Country wants to join the likes of Merschat, Branstetter or Stout in the history books, Montana FWP gives some clear and concise instructions on how to handle the potential catch.
In terms of actual handling, Montana FWP says not to clean or freeze the fish, to prevent loss of weight (for record-keeping purposes). They suggest to keep the fish cool “preferably on ice.”
Then you need to take a picture of the fish, before weighing it on a certified scale (noted as being “found in grocery store or hardware store, etc.”) with a store employee or another observer as witnesses. After getting a weight receipt, fisherman are told to “measure the length and girth.”
Once those steps are taken care of, it’s just a matter of contacting the nearest FWP office and filling out an official record form.
