From the Twin Cites Pioneer Press. A St. Paul angler has caught the state record white bass — and he didn’t have to travel to Minnesota’s lake country. Kanchic Yang of St. Paul caught the state record white bass, by weight, when he snared the fish on Oct. 10, 2016, in Vadnais Lake in Vadnais Heights. (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)
Kanchic Yang was fishing with a minnow and 8-pound test line on Oct. 10 at Vadnais Lake in Vadnais Heights when he hooked the new record-by-weight white bass. The fish weighed 4 pounds, 8 ounces, was 20 inches long and had a girth of 16 inches. The previous record of 4 pounds, 2 ounces stood since 2004.
“This shows how much fun it can be to fish in the metro area. A huge fish might be one cast away,” said Mike Kurre, mentoring program coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
White bass are native to Minnesota waters and are found in major rivers and some lakes in the Twin Cities metro area. Earlier this summer, the DNR released about 5,000 fingerling white bass into St. Paul’s Lake Phalen in hopes they will grow to catchable size and start to establish a naturally reproducing population.
The DNR certifies two types of state records. One is for weight of a harvested fish. The other is for length of caught-and-released muskellunge, flathead catfish and lake sturgeon.
More information on state record fish is available at www.mndnr.gov/recordfish.