HELENA -- Who would have thought a fish weighing 1.23 pounds would set any kind of record? When Parker Shipman reeled in the tenacious pumpkinseed sunfish, he had had an inkling.
"When I saw what kind of fish it was, I said to my buddy, Joe, 'Get a net; we need a net,'" Parker said. "I thought it might be a lake record, but sure enough, it was a state record. I couldn't believe it."
Parker and Joe were fishing for crappie on Echo Lake near Kalispell on June 30 when he hooked into the pretty pumpkinseed. These fish get their name from their body's resemblance to an actual pumpkin seed.
"He fought pretty hard," Parker said.
The angling buddies were using deep-water, ultra-light gear. They had recently fished together in Fennon Slough, which is where the previous record pumpkinseed was caught.
Parker measured its length and girth – 10.04 inches long and 11.34 inches wide – and then took it to Super 1 grocery store in Kalispell to get the official weight.
Currently, the pumpkinseed is in Parker's freezer, waiting to be mounted.