A fishing trip in South Dakota turned into a record-breaking day after a teenager caught the biggest pumpkinseed ever officially recorded in the state.
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Jack Backman of Harrisburg, South Dakota, was fishing with his friend Garrett Johnson on June 18 when he caught the fish in Wall Lake. At first, he believed he had hooked a crappie. But when he pulled the fish closer to the boat, he realised it was something much rarer.
The catch was later weighed on a certified scale and officially recorded at one pound. That was enough to break South Dakota's previous state record for a pumpkinseed, which had stood for more than five decades.
The record has now been officially accepted by the state, making Backman the new state record holder.
A routine day, a record catch
Backman and Johnson were fishing from Backman's 18-foot Lund aluminium boat on the 220-acre Wall Lake, near the town of Wall in South Dakota. They began fishing around 3 pm, hoping to catch walleye.
About two and a half hours later, Backman noticed a fish on his boat's forward-facing sonar. Sonar is an electronic system that helps anglers locate fish underwater by sending sound waves through the water and showing where fish are swimming.
The fish appeared to be suspended about two feet below the surface in water that was around 14 feet deep. "It was suspended two feet down in 14 feet of water," Backman told Wired2Fish. "It was about 30 feet away from a tree, hanging near it when I made a cast."
He threw a quarter-ounce black Northland tungsten jig with a full nightcrawler attached. A jig is a type of fishing lure fitted with a weighted head, while a nightcrawler is a large earthworm often used as live bait.
Because the fish looked smaller than the walleye he had been targeting, Backman thought it was probably a crappie.
He was using spinning tackle with a 10-pound braided fishing line connected to an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader, a setup commonly used for freshwater fishing.
