Thanks to the Detroit News for this:
An Adrian angler broke state records last month with a white perch that outweighed and out-measured catches of the species in Michigan, officials said.
Scott Smith caught the fish while still fishing with minnow bait on Lake St. Clair on April 25, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said in a statement.
Smith’s catch weighed 2 pounds, 5.92 ounces and spanned 16.25 inches, compared to a Bear Lake woman’s 2015 state record of 2 pounds, 13.57 inches, according to the release.
Michigan state record fish must be verified by a DNR fisheries biologist, as Smith and former title holder Cindy Cordo’s catches were, and are only recognized by weight, according to the release.
“Sometimes you’re in the right spot at the right time, and sometimes you get lucky,” Smith said in the release.
The April catch was Smith’s first state-record fish, though he’s earned 53 world records for fly fishing in the nearly 65 years he’s participated in the pastime.
Smith set his first world record for rainbow trout in 1996 for the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and kept fishing from that point on, according to the release.
“I grew up fishing the Detroit River,” Smith said in the release. “We used to ride our bikes down there as kids, throw in a line with our bait and ‘ride’ the catch home.”
Smith has been a fly-fishing instructor in northern Michigan for 35 years, and also works as a dentist and fly-fishing guide, according to the release.
