Montana 12-year-old stunned as he reels in record-breaking fish: 'I'm in disbelief'
A 12-year-old Montana fisherman has officially set the new state record for the largescale sucker after reeling in the fish last month. The young angler hopes to break more records.
It's apparently never too early to start setting records and, for one young fisherman, he is just getting started.
Wade Merschat, 12, of Trout Creek, Montana, has just set his first record after reeling in a largescale sucker last month.
He landed the fish at his favorite, secret fishing spot in Noxon Rapids Reservoir with his father and some apprentices from Waypoint Outfitters Inc.
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"I saw them all swimming on the surface and swimming up the falls, and then kind of saw that one," Wade Merschat told Fox News Digital.
"And then I cast at it and had to get the perfect drift for it, and then I caught him."
The young angler saw the fish before finally reeling it in, but he had no idea just how large it actually was.
"It looked a lot, lot smaller in the water, but then when I pulled it out of the water [and] it was 10 times bigger than I thought, so I was very happy," Wade Merschat said.
Wade Merschat had been eager to land a state record, so he spent time researching various records, and memorizing the weight and lengths that were required to set a new one.
"They go fishing down there quite a bit and they caught a couple of big ones — and he [Wade] is obsessed with looking at the state records," Josh Merschat, Wade's dad, told Fox News Digital.
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"And they kind of knew that [was the record]. That's what he knew instantly."
The moment when Wade Merschat caught the record-breaking fish was captured on video.
"That's a state record," he can be heard saying in the footage. "I'm in disbelief."
In order to ensure the record was eligible, Wade and Josh Merschat found the closest approved scale at Harvest Foods in Thompson Falls only a few miles down the road. There, they also met a biologist with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The fish tipped the scale at 6.72 pounds and measured 25.25 inches long.
Within a couple of weeks, Wade Merschat was notified that he had officially set the new state record.
"So the day I caught [the fish] and since I turned it in, I probably checked [the website] and looked up my name and state record every day until I finally saw my name in the record books," Wade Merschat said.
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Wade Merschat said he fishes just about every day and fell in love with the sport when he was little.
"He's a fishing nut. He's been fishing since he's, I don't know, 4 or 5," Josh Merschat said.
"He's obsessed with it. Sometimes it drives me insane because he likes to go so much."
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The father-son duo often fish together, but Wade Merschat quickly surpassed his father's skills.
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He has all sorts of fishing goals and records he wants to set, and his parents said they couldn't be more proud.
"I'm amazed that he has all the state records memorized in case he catches one. His goal is to have a wall full of record breakers mounted," Morgan Merschat, Wade's mom, told Fox News Digital.
"It’s exciting to see him set goals and achieve them," she added.
Wade Merschat already has his sights set on breaking his next fishing record.
His largescale sucker record is listed as certified on the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' website.
Fox News Digital reached out to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for comment.