A 12-year-old Eagle, Idaho girl has set a world record by catching a giant yellow perch last March at Lake Cascade.
“I couldn’t quit smiling,” Tia said. “It was the biggest perch I’ve seen. I was kind of hoping it was a state record.”
After catching the fish, Tia and her father rushed to Cascade where the fish was placed on a scale and weighed out at 2 pounds and 11.68 ounces.
Tia’s father Gary knew they had broken a state record, but after hunting in Wisconsin and visiting the Fresh Water Fish Hall of Fame, Gary learned that the world record for the yellow perch was 2 pounds 6 ounces from Sheep Pond, Massachusetts.
“I knew there were different line class records, but I didn’t know there were records like ice fishing,” says Gary.
After filing some paperwork, Gary found out that Tia’s catch was the largest yellow perch caught while ice fishing using a tip-up rod, anywhere in the world.
“He told me over the phone,” she says. “I was laughing so hard I was crying. It was funny.”