A Wyoming outdoorsman has quite the fish tale to tell.
Patrick Edwards’ big catch not only broke a state record for Wyoming, but it also tied a world record that has stood for nearly four decades.
Edwards reeled in a white sucker that weighed in at 6 pounds, 8.4 ounces on the Wind River, beating the state record that he once held and tying the world record—although did not know that at the time.
It’s a fish most people don’t target, but Edwards is all about equal opportunity when it comes to fishing.
“I’m a multi-species nut. I catch everything from Tiger Muskies and Walleye down to suckers and carp. So it was a fun day targeting species that most people don’t even fish for.”
He caught the fish on a cold day last April. He probably could have been talked out of fishing that day, but he’d promised he’d take his 11-year-old daughter fishing. The weather may have been cold, but the fishing was hot.
“My daughter and father-in-law both caught fish that would have rivaled my old state record and then the one that I caught just kind of blew it away,” Edwards said.
Edwards, who hosts an outdoors podcast called Radcast Outdoors, says white suckers are one of the few fish native to Wyoming. And despite what you might think, he says they taste pretty good.
“They are edible, and they actually taste good, but the best ways to deal with them are ways to get rid of the bones like pressure canning or pickling, which are some of the things I talk about on my show. I challenge myself to catch things people wouldn’t normally catch and show them how to utilize the resource,” he says.
He admits it doesn’t take a lot of skill to catch suckers—just knowing where the big ones might be.
“They are one of the easier fish to fish for because you don’t have to use anything fancy. Just have a sinker, a hook, and a piece of worm, and that is all you need,” he says.
Almost a half year after his big catch, Edwards recently received confirmation the white sucker he reeled in had tied the world record set in 1984 in Minnesota.
And that has him thinking about one thing.
“Maybe I will break it again this spring. I’ve got to be the one that holds it by myself. So I’m going to try to get out there and do that,” he says.
Click here to listen to Edwards' podcast.
