As the old adage makes clear, “records were meant to be broken,” and that’s just what Dale Hoffman of Ramsey, Minnesota did on July 7.
Hoffman caught a whopper bluegill weighing 2.21 pounds from Big Stone Lake, located on the Minnesota-South Dakota border near the town of Ortonville, Minn.
Hoffman was using a slip-bobber rig set up with red worms when he caught the huge panfish in 10 feet of water, according to Artie Arndt, who owns Artie’s Bait & Tackle at Big Stone Lake. Arndt saw and photographed the fish and sold bait worms to Hoffman.
The record breaking bluegill was caught at about 11 a.m. Shortly thereafter it was weighed on certified scales at a nearby grocery store meat department, according to Minnesota DNR Assistant Supervisor Kyle Anderson, who verified Hoffman’s catch as a bluegill.
“He caught it about 11 a.m. and they brought it to me at our Ortonville DNR office about 3 p.m.,” Anderson tells Outdoor Life. “I can tell you, we sure don’t see many bluegills like that one.”
Hoffman’s bluegill was 2.21 pounds, measuring 11.6 inches in length. His fish tops the previous state record bluegill that was landed by Chris Mulcahey of Waterville, Minn. Mulcahey caught a 2-pound, 11.75-inch-long bluegill from Big Stone Lake on May 29.
Hoffman’s new state record bluegill was a male fish, according to Anderson.
“It’s very unusual for a male bluegill to be such a large size,” says Anderson. “Most of the big bluegills we see are females ripe with roe. But not this one. It’s the biggest male bluegill I’ve ever seen. I think it was at least seven years old.”
Anderson says that Big Stone Lake has changed much over the last 30 years. He says the 26-mile-long waterway is a “riverine lake,” and is the headwaters of the Minnesota River. While decades ago the lake was noted for walleyes, it’s now offering excellent panfish and bass action.
“The lake only averages 16 feet deep, and abundant vegetation has benefited the bass and panfish populations in Big Stone,” he explained. “It’s full of nutrients and fish because of the weeds. Even though it’s shallow, there’s not much of a winter kill because it’s a riverine fishery.”
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Anderson says that Hoffman nearly lost his record bluegill because the strong fish almost snatched the rod out of his boat before he could grab it and set the hook.
“He’d just been given a new rod and reel as a retirement present, and almost lost his tackle, along with his record bluegill,” according to Anderson. “I think he’s going to have a taxidermist make a mount of his bluegill. It’d be pretty cool if he displayed the mount along with his rod and reel he almost lost catching it.”