An Indiana angler made state history last month when he caught a relatively heavy yellow perch.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (Indiana DNR) posted about the catch on Facebook on May 1st. Fisherman Blas Lars threw his tackle into Lake Michigan before catching his record-breaking fish.
Blas Lara was fishing Lake Michigan in Lake County during the Mayor’s Hammond Fishing Derby on April 21 when he caught a 3-pound, 2-ounce yellow perch, breaking an Indiana state record that had stood for 43 years. ,” the Indiana DNR explained. In a press release.
“The state’s previous record for this species was a 2-pound, 8-ounce fish caught in 1981 by Roy W. Barkel Jr. from a gravel pit in Vigo County.”
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Blas Lara recently made history when he caught a large yellow perch in Indiana. (Indiana Department of Natural Resources, via Facebook)
The yellow perch record wasn’t the only longstanding Indiana record broken this year. The Indiana DNR announced that a fisherman broke the 1992 smallmouth bass record on March 3.
State officials say yellow perch are one of many native fish species in Lake Michigan.
”[They] The Indiana DNR says, “They are popular with anglers because they are relatively easy to catch and their quality as table food. Populations of this species have declined from their peak decades ago. However, the large perch fishery remains active.”
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Two yellow perch caught in the Chesapeake Bay. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The current world record for yellow perch is about 160 years old, according to the International Game Fish Association.
The heaviest yellow perch in history was captured on May 1, 1865, just two weeks after President Abraham Lincoln was killed. Dr. C. Abbott, a fisherman, caught a yellow perch weighing 4 pounds, 3 ounces in Bordentown, New Jersey.
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“Perch growth rates have accelerated over the past few years, with many perch reaching true trophy size at younger ages than ever before,” Ben Dickinson, a fisheries research biologist with the Indiana DNR Lake Michigan, said in a statement. “There is,” he said.
Yellow perch and other fish caught by commercial fishermen in Lake Erie near Sandusky, Ohio in 2019. (Zbigniew Buzdak/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“Over the past two years, many anglers have caught true ‘jumbo’ perch in the 14- to 17-inch class.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Lara for comment, but he did not immediately respond.
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