HAMMOND, Ind. — A new Indiana fishing record was set last month for the state's largest yellow perch.
Indiana DNR announced this week that angler Blas Lara was fishing Lake Michigan during the Mayor's Fishing Derby in Hammond on April 21 when he caught a record-breaking "jumbo" yellow perch.
According to DNR, Lara's catch weighed in at 3 pounds and 2 ounces and shattered a 43-year-old Indiana state record.
The previous state record for the species was a 2-pound, 8-ounce fish caught from a gravel pit in Vigo County. The catch was made by Roy W. Burkel Jr. in 1981, DNR said.
The yellow perch record broken by Lara was the second long-standing record to fall in Indiana this year. On March 3, Rex Remington broke a 32-year-old for the state's largest smallmouth bass.
DNR said that yellow perch are native to Lake Michigan and are popular with anglers due to the relative ease of catching them. Despite a decline in the species' population from its peak decades ago, DNR said there's still a "strong fishery" for large perch.
“Perch growth rates have accelerated over the past few years, with many reaching true trophy sizes at younger ages than in the past,” said DNR Lake Michigan fisheries research biologist Ben Dickinson. “Many anglers have been catching true ‘jumbo’ perch, in the 14- to-17-inch size class over the past two years.”
To learn more about the Indiana Record Fish program, click here. For more info on fishing licenses in Indiana, click here.