Oh, sure. It is definitely not as glamorous or sexy as a state record salmon, bass or brown trout.

But let's celebrate the success and how much of a thrill it must have been for this young Montana angler. At press time, we had not received word as to whether or not there are plans for a trophy mount.

But we do know this: For the fifth time in less than a year, Montana will add a new state record fish to its books. The latest fish is a longnose sucker, caught last week (March 26). Weighing in at 3.42 pounds, the 20.1-inch sucker was landed by Jacob Bernhardt of Great Falls while fishing in Cascade County on the Missouri River. Jacob's fish broke the previous longnose sucker record of 3.27 pounds, set in 1988 with a fish caught from the Marias River.

Other recent state record setting fish include a Chinook Salmon caught in August, a smallmouth bass in October, a yellow bullhead in December and a brown trout in February.

In terms of numbers in its variety, the sucker family is the third largest family of fish species in Montana with nine, behind the minnow and salmonid (trout) families. Longnose suckers are native to the state and widely distributed across nearly all of central and western Montana. Many of us anglers have probably hooked one and got excited, only to think, Damn!, when we got it to the boat or the shore.

With a total of 91 native and introduced fish species found in Montana, interest in fish records has increased in recent years. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks maintains the list of record fish, and it is available on this page of the FWP website. Here, you will also find detailed instructions on how to submit a possible state record fish.

Congratulations to Jacob, and good fishing to us all!

 

CHECK IT OUT: These words were born in the '80s

 

More From 96.9 Zoo FM