Tom Durst holds up his record sauger from Boysen.
caught out of Boysen
Wyoming Game and Fish
CASPER, Wyo. -- A new Wyoming state record was set Jan. 7 when Casper angler Tom Durst reeled in a 7.5-pound, 26.5-inch sauger from Boysen Reservoir, breaking the old record that has stood since 1999. The old record, a sauger, weighing in at 7.4 pounds and measuring 26.2 inches long, was also caught at Boysen by Brad Berg of Riverton on March 14, 1999.
"I wasn't expecting to catch a state record sauger," Durst said. "I always figured if I caught a state record it would probably be a carp or sucker."
He caught the fish at a depth of about 13 feet, using a live minnow on a tip-up. He reported cold, cloudy conditions with no wind at the time of the catch.
"It was really cold, about 8 degrees above zero," Durst said.
Not having any luck at their first location, Durst and his fishing buddy, Bruce Parker, also of Casper, decided to move to a different spot on the lake. After struggling with a malfunctioning auger, it was about 9:30 a.m. when they finally got set up and began fishing. They were soon catching crappie and even a burbot.
When Durst later went to check one of his tip-ups he was surprised to feel resistance, as the flag had not been set off. He pulled the line to check it and was surprised when he landed the large sauger. Durst struggles with an eye condition that makes his eyes water in cold weather, which might explain why he first thought the fish was a walleye.
Parker also thought the fish was a walleye and pestered Durst to release it because it was too big to eat. "But I kept it anyway, it was a nice fish," Durst said.
After another angler identified the fish as a sauger, Durst knew it could possibly be a record. So they took the fish into Shoshone to have it weighed. The following day he took the fish to the Casper Game and Fish office to get a positive identification.
Durst, who recently retired from the Bureau of Land Management, is pleased that his fish broke the old record and he plans to have it mounted. "But even if it wasn't a state record, this fish is a trophy anyway. It's a once-in-a-lifetime catch," he said.
The North American record is shared by two 8-pound, 12-ounce fish. The first one caught in Oct. 6, 1971 at Lake Sakakawea, N.D. and the other Dec. 12, 1994 at Fort Peck Lake, Mont.
North Platte Walleyes Unlimited