Paddlefish Record Broken

[LMITOUT]

For immediate release

May 3, 2010

North Dakota Game and Fish Department

South Dakota Teen Claims North Dakota Paddlefish Record

Alex Mergen can now stake claim to having caught the largest fish in North Dakota.

The 16-year-old angler from Rapid City, S.D., snagged a 130-pound paddlefish May 2 about 20 miles southwest of Williston near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. The 74-inch fish took 10 minutes to land.

The previous record of 120 pounds was held since 1993.

[cbrooks]

Thats awesome, a 16 year holding the ND state record for paddle fish.

[marine_man]

Here's a little more information, and a picture from the Rapid City Journal:

Hauling in a hog of a hunk of a huge paddler

Think these guys are happy? Alex, left, and Zach Mergen of Rapid City gladly bear the burden of Alex’s 130-pound, North Dakota state-record paddlefish.

By KW

It didn’t take long between the time I asked our TIO faithful for help in finding the Rapid City area kid who caught the state-record paddlefish and the e-mail I got from his uncle.

Daryl Mergen of Colorado Springs sent me the photo, too.

What a fish. And what a thrill for 16-year-old Alex Mergen, a junior at Rapid City Central High School, and his 18-year-old brother, Zach.

Alex hauled in the 130-pound paddlefish yesterday on the Missouri River near the confluence with the Yellowstone about 20 miles southwest of Williston, D.D. The old record was 120 pounds in northwestern North Dakota.

This was Alex’s third paddlefishing trip to the area and first paddler. Zach caught a 40-pounder the day before, that third paddlefish of his life.

Zach, by the way, weighs 135 pounds.

Just to put the size of the paddler in proper perspective.

[Ed Carlson]

That's not fair....he had a whole 5 pound advantage over that fish.

What a sow!

[LMITOUT]

Word around the campfire is that the scale had a 130# max capacity. I guess we'll never know, but regardless it's still a record and a heckuva catch.