Caught Where?! Why Enormous Pike Isn’t a New Montana State Record

This has probably happened more than a time or two.Getting in the record books was not important to this angler.

Whether it would have been a new record will remain a mystery, so for now, the existing 54-year-old record remains intact. But man, it sure would have been close!

Angela Montana from the Montana Outdoor Radio Show points out, and accurately so,
most fish stories come with a little exaggeration. But Steve Miller from Montana City believes he had the real deal on his hands.

While fishing at Canyon Ferry (yes, Canyon Ferry), Steve landed what he’s calling an “unofficial state record” northern pike weighing 37.6 pounds and measuring 48 inches long. The current Montana state record pike was caught in 1971 by Lance Moyer and weighed 37.5 pounds. That fish was caught in the Tongue River Reservoir.

Without an official scale, breaking a state record by one-tenth of an ounce would have led to a lot of conjecture. But here’s the part that’s not sitting well with some Montana anglers, especially those who revere Canyon Ferry as a prized fishery: the fish was released, full of eggs, back into Canyon Ferry Reservoir.

Not only did Steve let the beast go, she swam off ready to pass on her big-fish genes. Talk about catch and release with a plot twist.

Mr. Miller posted: “No official scale, just one unforgettable catch.” And while it won’t show up in the record books, as it wasn’t certified, it’s definitely swimming around in everyone’s heads—and probably haunting a few tackle boxes.

Well, our guess is that the moral of the story is that Canyon Ferry just got a lot more interesting. And Steve Miller may have just become officially unofficially legendary.