Whatever The Fish Is, It’s A State Record Catch

A Sand Springs rancher caught a record for Montana walleyes recently, although some people think the fish actually is a saugeye.

Myron Kibler caught the fish while handlining through the ice on Fort Peck Reservoir near Devil’s Creek. First, however, he had to watch his wife catch a 5-pound sauger and a neighbor woman catch a 13 pound walleye.

Kibler said he was starting to feel sorry for himself when the monster struck his live minnow bait about 3 p.m.

Even though Kibler regularly fishes the reservoir year-round, the largest fish he’d ever caught was an 8-pounder.

This fish would just barely squeeze through his 8-inch hole in the ice.

The fish easily eclipses the Montana record walleye of 14 pounds, 14 ounces caught by Miles City’s Duane Leidholt from the Yellowstone River in 1989.

But it had markings suggesting it was a hybrid between a walleye and a sauger. Montana doesn’t recognize saugeyes as a separate species. However, if genetic testing shows the fish to be a hybrid, it also could become the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame’s world all-tackle saugeye record. Ironically, it would beat another huge Leidholt-caught fish, a 12-pound, 7-ounce saugeye he caught from the Yellowstone River in 1987.

MEMO: Record weight of fish was 15.66 pounds. Per Rich Landers 2/1/95.