Potential State Record Northern is a Fishy Story - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Potential State Record Northern is a Fishy Story

It's a fishy story.

Rumors of a state record northern pike began circulating this morning.

Greg Power is Fisheries Chief with the Game & Fish Department.

He says a man did call claiming to have shattered the state record.

The Zap area man says he caught it off the wing wall at the Tailrace, then released it.

Power estimates the wing wall is 40-50 feet high, and wonders how anyone could lift a 60 pound fish that far without losing it.

Power says is also seems odd someone would shatter a state record and come close to a world record, then promptly release the fish.

The man was asked if he knew the difference between a paddlefish and a northern.

He said he had been fishing twenty years and knew the difference. Power says paddlefish are being snagged often at the Tailrace.

The man says he will bring the game and fish department photos Monday. But Power says even if they are real there is no

way to tell how big the fish is. And he says the man hasn't met any of the criteria for recording a state record fish--which include having it weighed at a certified scale and verified by game and fish.

Power says it could be the fourth "false" claim this year.

He says people have claimed to catch a state record walleye, perch, and small mouth bass in the past year.

The current state record northern is 37 pounds.