New Michigan State Record White Perch

Photo by the Michigan DNR

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed an ice fisherman’s 1.93-pound white perch is the new state record.

According to the Detroit Free Press, angler Aaron Slagh caught the fish on Jan. 21 on Muskegon Lake using a spoon. While the fish’s length matched the previous record, the state recognizes records by weight. Slagh’s fish weighed slightly more than the 1.88-pound fish caught by angler Kyle Ryan in 2002.

“It was just another normal day on the ice for me, as I get out as much as I can,” Slagh said in a released statement. “We were actually targeting yellow perch, and I thought I had a walleye. When we pulled it up, we thought, ‘Holy cow, that’s a big white perch.'”