Here the story: angler from Rapid City, S.D., caught the new North Dakota record paddlefish Sunday while fishing near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.
Alex Mergen hooked the 74-inch-long, 130-pound paddlefish and fought it for 10 minutes before landing the record-breaker. The old record was a 120-pounder caught in 1993.
North Dakota's paddlefish snagging season began on May 1. It will run through the end of the month, unless the harvest quota is reached sooner, when it will close on 36 hours notice.
Just in case you wondered, the Montana state record paddlefish weighed 142.5 pounds and was caught in 1973 from the Missouri River near the Fred Robinson Bridge.