A fishing trip in South Dakota turned into a record-breaking day after a teenager caught the biggest pumpkinseed ever officially recorded in the state.Jack Backman of Harrisburg, South Dakota, was fishing with his friend Garrett Johnson on June 18 when he caught the fish in Wall Lake. At first, he believed he had hooked a crappie. But when he pulled the fish closer to the boat, he realised it was something much rarer.The catch was later weighed on a certified scale and officially recorded at one pound. That was enough to break South Dakota’s previous state record for a pumpkinseed, which had stood for more than five decades.The record has now been officially accepted by the state, making Backman the new state record holder.
A routine day, a record catch
Backman and Johnson were fishing from Backman’s 18-foot Lund aluminium boat on the 220-acre Wall Lake, near the town of Wall in South Dakota. They began fishing around 3 pm, hoping to catch walleye.About two and a half hours later, Backman noticed a fish on his boat’s forward-facing sonar. Sonar is an electronic system that helps anglers locate fish underwater by sending sound waves through the water and showing where fish are swimming.The fish appeared to be suspended about two feet below the surface in water that was around 14 feet deep. “It was suspended two feet down in 14 feet of water,” Backman told Wired2Fish. “It was about 30 feet away from a tree, hanging near it when I made a cast.”He threw a quarter-ounce black Northland tungsten jig with a full nightcrawler attached. A jig is a type of fishing lure fitted with a weighted head, while a nightcrawler is a large earthworm often used as live bait.Because the fish looked smaller than the walleye he had been targeting, Backman thought it was probably a crappie.He was using spinning tackle with a 10-pound braided fishing line connected to an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader, a setup commonly used for freshwater fishing.
A pleasant surprise
“The fish hit immediately when it saw my lure, and I thought for sure it was a good crappie,” Backman said.When the fish came closer, he immediately noticed its bright colours. “When I saw it and its colours I knew it was a pumpkinseed. I’ve caught them in other lakes in other states like Iowa and North Dakota. I didn’t know Wall Lake had them.”A pumpkinseed is a small freshwater fish belonging to the sunfish family. It is known for its colourful body with shades of green, orange and blue. Although common in many lakes and ponds in North America, pumpkinseeds usually remain small, making large specimens uncommon.Backman carefully guided the fish towards the boat, where Johnson successfully netted it.
Realising it could be a state record
The two anglers did not have a weighing scale on the boat. However, they knew the existing South Dakota state record for a pumpkinseed was only 12 ounces. That made them think Backman’s fish could be large enough to set a new record.They contacted a friend who owned a Bubba scale. After meeting him, they weighed the fish, and it registered just over one pound. That result made it clear they needed an official weight on a certified scale if they wanted the catch to qualify as a state record.The pair then went to a nearby grocery store and persuaded an employee to weigh the fish using a certified scale. The official weight came to exactly one pound.That was enough to beat the previous South Dakota state record of 12 ounces, which had been caught by Pat McCart in 1970 at Lake Carthage.Although Backman’s fish now holds the South Dakota state record, it is still smaller than the world record recognised by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA). According to the IGFA, the all-tackle world-record pumpkinseed was caught in New York in 2016 by angler Robert Warne. That fish weighed 1 pound and 8 ounces, making it eight ounces heavier than Backman’s state-record catch.
