Angler breaks 43-year-old record after reeling in large perch in Lake Michigan
The previous Indiana state record for heaviest yellow perch dated to 1981
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Indiana angler made state history after catching a relatively-heavy yellow perch last month.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (Indiana DNR) made a Facebook post about the catch on May 1. The fisherman, Blas Lars, threw his tackle in Lake Michigan before he caught the record-breaking fish.
"Blas Lara was fishing Lake Michigan in Lake County during the Mayor’s Fishing Derby in Hammond on April 21 when he landed a 3-pound, 2-ounce yellow perch, shattering a 43-year-old Indiana state record," the Indiana DNR explained in a press release.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The previous state record for the species was a 2-pound, 8-ounce fish caught from a gravel pit in Vigo County by Roy W. Burkel Jr. in 1981."
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Blas Lara made history after recently catching a hefty yellow perch in Indiana. (Indiana Department of Natural Resources via Facebook)
The yellow perch record wasn't the only long-standing Indiana state record that was broken this year. The Indiana DNR said that a fisherman broke the 1992 smallmouth bass record on March 3.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to state officials, yellow perches are one of many native fish species in Lake Michigan.
"[They] are popular with anglers due to the relative ease of catching them and their quality as table fare," Indiana DNR explained. "Although the species’ population has declined from its peak decades ago, there is still a strong fishery for large perch."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two yellow perches that were caught from the Chesapeake Bay. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
According to the International Game Fish Association, the current yellow perch world record is nearly 160 years old.
The heaviest-ever yellow perch was caught on May 1, 1865 – just over two weeks after President Abraham Lincoln was killed. The fisherman, Dr. C. Abbot, caught a 4-pound, 3-ounce yellow perch in Bordentown, New Jersey.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Perch growth rates have accelerated over the past few years, with many reaching true trophy sizes at younger ages than in the past," Indiana DNR Lake Michigan fisheries research biologist Ben Dickinson said in a statement.
Yellow perch and other fish caught by a commercial fishermen in Lake Erie near Sandusky, Ohio, in 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"Many anglers have been catching true ‘jumbo’ perch, in the 14- to-17-inch size class over the past two years."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital reached out to Lara for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
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