Excellent fishing abounds in Minnesota and travel to far-off locations is not a requirement to hook into state record fish – as shown by angler Kanchic Yang of St. Paul, who caught the state record weight white bass not far from downtown St. Paul.

Yang was fishing with a minnow and 8-pound test line on Oct. 10 at Vadnais Lake in Ramsey County when he hooked the new record white bass. The fish weighed 4 pounds, 8 ounces, was 20 inches long and had a girth of 16 inches. The previous white bass state record of 4 pounds, 2 ounces stood since 2004.

“Congratulations to Kanchic for catching a state record fish,” said Mike Kurre, mentoring program coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “This shows how much fun it can be to fish in the metro area. A huge fish might be one cast away.”

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 Lake Phalen in hopes they will grow to catchable size and start to establish a naturally reproducing population. The DNR has worked with the state’s southeast Asian community to identify new fishing opportunities, including the stocking of white bass in Lake Phalen.

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 on the records page.