An 11-year-old Minnesota angler has landed himself a new state record fish.
Austin Stoll caught a tullibee (also known as a cisco) weighing 5 pounds, 13 ounces, while fishing last month in Sybil Lake in Otter Tail County. It broke a 13-year-old state record by 2 ounces.
"Congratulations to Austin on the great catch," said Mike Kurre, who coordinates the state-record fish program for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. "Austin and his dad did everything right to certify the fish, and they show how it's possible to catch a state-record fish at any time of the year."
To certify the tullibee as a record, they took it to be weighed on a certified scale at Essentia Health in Pelican Rapids after trying a local hardware store that was closed. Two impartial observers witnessed the weighing, and Austin and his dad brought the fish to be identified by two fisheries experts at the DNR Fergus Falls fisheries office. They also had the application stamped by a notary public.
"Austin's fish is one of 62 state records, which are measured by weight," Kurre said in a news release. "Many of these records are attainable at any time of the year because fishing seasons remain open for panfish and other species. In fact, the past several records have all been species that rarely grace the covers of glossy magazines."
The five most recent records prior to Austin's tullibee were golden redhorse in 2014, and the following fish in 2012: bowfin (dogfish), burbot (eelpout), river carpsucker and shovelnose sturgeon.
The state's record walleye remains a 17-pound, 8-ounce giant pulled from the Seagull River at Saganaga Lake in Cook County in 1979.