GREAT FALLS – A Great Falls man set a new state record for a little-known Montana fish caught on the Marias River near Loma.
On April 19, Jason Karls landed a 13.29-pound blue sucker, breaking the old record set in 2014 by almost two pounds. Karls’ catch measured 34.56 inches long.
The blue sucker is one of nine members of the sucker family, all native to Montana, according to Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The common carp, which is not native to Montana, is not a sucker but a member of the minnow family.
The blue sucker’s natural distribution is in the Missouri-Mississippi river system from Montana east to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and south to the Gulf of Mexico, according to “Fishes of Montana,” by C.J.D. Brown.
Because of habitat changes, however, Montana’s blue sucker is an uncommon fish and is listed as a species of special concern.
Dams block the fishes’ passage to spawning grounds and eliminate peak flows that initiate spawning runs, states “A Field Guide to Montana Fishes.” Dams also discharge cold, clear water rather than the warm, turbid waters in which the blue sucker evolved.
