FISHING -- An Idaho girl has landed a national fishing distinction.

Tia Wiese, 12, of Eagle, caught a yellow perch weighing 2 pounds 11.68 ounces on March 1 at Lake Cascade. Shortly afterward, the fish was confirmed as the Idaho state record for the species.

But during a hunting trip in Wisconsin, her father, Gary Wiese, visited the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame. He learned of a special world-record category for ice fishing with a tip-up -- and the yellow perch record was 2 pounds 6 ounces caught in Massachusetts.

“I knew there were different line class records, but I didn’t know there were records like ice fishing,” Gary said.

The Wieses sent the paperwork on Tia's fish to the Hall of Fame and recently received confirmation that it had been declared the new world record for the largest yellow perch confirmed as being caught while ice fishing using a tip-up rod.

In the late 1990s, Idaho Fish and Game Department fishery managers recognized that Lake Cascade’s perch population had depleted dramatically. Addressing angler appeals, they began a program to rejuvenate the fishery. Thousands of yellow perch were released into Lake Cascade, and those fish successfully spawned, beginning a rapid recovery of the lake’s perch population.

Fifteen years later, Lake Cascade has a strong population of yellow perch. In 2014, anglers were regularly catching them in the 2-pound range. Tia's father caught one almost as big as hers.

While Tia’s state record and world record remain on the books for now, plenty of anglers will be trying to catch a larger perch this year. Yellow perch spawn in early spring, and right now the females preparing for the spring spawn are adding weight as their eggs grow.

The next couple of months will tell whether Tia will retain her place in Idaho’s record books, and at the top of the world’s list of perch caught through the ice using a tip-up.