New State Record For Yellow Perch

Wyoming has a new state record yellow perch thanks to the efforts of Casper angler Troy Schnepper who reeled in a 2.28 pound fish last week while jigging through the ice at Boysen Reservoir.

Schnepper’s fish was 15.25 inches long and had a girth of 12.5 inches. It bested the previous state record by a little more than an ounce. The previous record was established in 1991.

This catch means that five current state record fish have been caught out of Boysen Reservoir. The other records include walleye, sauger, black crappie, and river carpsucker.

Schnepper is currently the only person in Wyoming holding two state fish records. Schnepper caught the state record black crappie out of Boysen two years ago.

Schnepper, who fishes Boysen often, said he was fishing primarily for crappie, jigging a small spoon tipped with a minnow head when the fish hit. He said the fishing had been good and he had earlier caught three 15-inch crappie, each weighing around two pounds. When the perch took his lure, he thought it was a walleye and on landing the fish thought it might be a new state record. His fish was confirmed as the new record later that day after being weighed on a certified scale.

Perch are found in a number of waters in Wyoming. The world record for yellow perch is a whopping 4 pounds 3 ounces. That fish was caught in New Jersey in 1865 and is the longest standing fish record in North America.

A complete listing of Wyoming state record fish is on the Game and Fish website.