‘Bro, I Can’t Believe It!’ 12-Year-Old Catches Montana Record Sucker

Wade Merschat was fishing from the bank at Noxon Rapids Reservoir in northwestern Montana on June 19 when he hooked a large sucker that he knew was big enough to break the standing record. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks certified the catch on Monday, officially recognizing the 12-year-old’s 6.72-pounder as the new state record for the species.

The Trout Creek resident was fishing in a fast-moving area near Thompson Falls with his friend Collin Norton, who works for the Merschat family’s fishing outfitter, Waypoint Outfitters.

“Collin has his driver’s license and Wade is always looking for someone who can take him fishing,” said Wade’s mother, Morgan Merschat. Outdoor living. “Wade loves the outdoors and wants to be a famous fisherman. He knows all the Montana fishing records by heart, [which is how] He knew when he caught that fish that it was a record catch of a big sucker.”

The 12-year-old was fishing a nightcrawler on a light spinning rod when the sucker bit. In a video recorded by Norton, Wade starts yelling excitedly before he even catches the fish, repeating, “That’s a state record! That’s a state record!”

“Bro, I can’t believe it,” he says to Norton as he lifts the suction cup. “Man, that’s easily more than four [pounds]It’s like there are five of them!”

As it turned out, Merschat’s sucker weighed closer to 7 pounds and was 25.25 inches long. The previous Montana record for large-bore sucker was a 6.16-pound, 23.1-inch fish caught in 2008 at Woodland Park Pond in Kalispell. The world record large-scale suction dredger is 7 pounds 14 ounces, caught in Idaho’s Snake River in March 2023 by Josh Dolin. It is one of at least 16 sucker species recognized by the International Game Fish Association.

Large suckers are native to Montana’s western drainage and usually weigh less than five pounds. They are found from British Columbia to Oregon, usually in slow-moving areas of rivers, streams, and lakes. They are considered a rough fish by many anglers, especially in Montana where trout predominate for most anglers. Suckers are bottom dwellers that feed primarily on aquatic invertebrates and plants. They can be caught with live bait such as worms, as demonstrated by Merschat.

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Morgan Merschat says her son has been a hard-working fisherman since he was 4, when he caught a largemouth bass almost as big as he was. The sucker is in the freezer, and the Merschats plan to take it to a taxidermist to have it mounted.

“Wade plans to fill an entire wall with his record-breaking catches.”