Confirmation from the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame has recognized 13-year-old Tia Wiese of Eagle Idaho’s 2-pound, 11.68-opunce yellow perch caught through the ice as a new ice-fishing world record for fish caught on a tip-up. Her father Gary was fishing with her at the time. The I.G.F.A. All Tackle World Record is 4-pounds, 3-ounces caught right in Bordentown in the Garden State but way back in 1865. Perch that big are rarely seen, let alone through the ice.
“I knew it was a big fish, but setting a world record was a surprise,” said Tia.
The pair set up a shanty in bad weather and soft ice over 24 feet of water along a breakline leading up to a spawning flat brushed by current from an incoming creek. While jigging from the house, they watched tip-ups positioned along the break. At around 11 a.m., a flag tripped over 14 feet of water, triggering an epic battle that saw the trophy perch race 25 yards to foul their jigging lines before eventually being pulled onto the ice. “When I heard our lines going in the shanty, I knew it had gotten tangled in them,” Tia recalled. “We thought it was a tiger muskie at first,” Gary added.
After landing the fish, they rushed it to a certified scale for an official weight. “I missed breaking the state record by 4/100ths of a pound the week before,” said Gary. “We wanted it weighed right away.” The perch, which measured 15.5 inches long, with a 12.75-inch girth, was quickly certified as an Idaho state record. But it wasn’t until the following fall, while Gary was on a hunting trip to Wisconsin, that he realized the Hall of Fame had a tip-up category within its ice fishing division.
“I spoke with director Emmett Brown while in Wisconsin, and he encouraged me to submit our application,” said Gary. As it turned out, their catch easily topped the existing record of 2 pounds, 6 ounces set by Shimano’s Roy Leyva on Massachusetts’ Sheep Pond in March of 2005. And ten months after icing the fish, the record was Tia’s.
A true diehard, she declines to reveal specific details about the lure that felled the giant perch—other than, “It was a natural bait on a secret rig. I’d rather not say any more.” And who can blame her? With stellar numbers of supersize perch swimming the fertile waters of Cascade Lake, more than a few anglers are already gunning for her record. But who knows, it could be just a matter of time before one of Tia and Gary’s father-daughter dates ends with yet another record-class fish.
