Big things are happening on Devils Lake in North Dakota, according to Perch Patrol Guide Service—especially if you’re a perch. Alan Hintz of Stevens Point, Wisconsin may have just rewritten the North Dakota record books while fishing with Perch Patrol guide Tyler Elshaug.
The jumbo perch measured an impressive 16½ inches and tipped the scale at 2.99 pounds, weighed by ND Game Warden Jon Peterson on the certified scale at Woodland Resort (which measures in hundredths, not ounces). That would edge out the current North Dakota state record of 2 pounds, 15 ounces, caught by Kyle Smith of Carrington on March 28, 1982—also on Devils Lake. For now, it’s being called “unofficial”, since the North Dakota Game and Fish Department requires a four-week verification period before making things official.
In other words, the fish has done its part—now we all sit back and wait for the paperwork to catch up.
