Lake Michigan fisherman's jumbo perch breaks Indiana's 43-year-old state record
Blas Lara's yellow perch record was the second long-standing record to fall in the Hoosier State this year. On March 3, Rex Remington broke the 1992 record for catching the largest smallmouth bass.
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HAMMOND, Ind. – A Lake Michigan fisherman's jumbo perch has broken Indiana's 43-year-old state record.
Blas Lara caught the new Indiana record – a 3-pound, 2-ounce yellow perch – during the Mayor’s Fishing Derby in Hammond on April 21, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said.
The previous state record was set in 1981 when Roy W. Burkel Jr. caught a 2-pound, 8-ounce yellow perch from a gravel pit in Vigo County, according to state wildlife officials.
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Indiana’s 43-year-old state yellow perch record was shattered after Blas Lara landed a 3-pound, 2-ounce yellow perch from Lake Michigan.
(Indiana Department of Natural Resources)
"Perch growth rates have accelerated over the past few years, with many reaching true trophy sizes at younger ages than in the past," Indiana Department of Natural Resources Lake Michigan fisheries research biologist Ben Dickinson said. "Many anglers have been catching true ‘jumbo’ perch, in the 14- to-17-inch size class over the past two years."
Yellow perch are native to Lake Michigan and are popular with anglers due to their relative ease of catching and their quality as table fare.
State wildlife officials report a thriving fishery for large perch despite a decline in population from its peak decades ago.
Lara's yellow perch record was the second long-standing record to fall in the Hoosier State this year. On March 3, Rex Remington broke the 1992 record for catching the largest smallmouth bass.