FISHING -- Lake Cascade has produced another Idaho state-record yellow perch, this one weighing 2 pounds, 15.36 ounces to top the previous of 2 pounds, 11.68 ounces also caught in the reservoir north of Boise.

The lunker perch --15 5/8 inches long with a girth of 13 1/4 inches -- was caught Friday, Feb. 26, by Skye Coulter of Donnelly. His hook was baited with a worm.

Tia Weise, whose record was usurped by Coulter's fish, still holds the catch-and-release yellow perch record of 16-inches, which she set at Cascade on Feb. 7. The fish wasn't officially weighed because it was released under the state's new catch-and-release record rules.

"Cascade has consistently produced trophy perch in the last two years," says Roger Phillips, Idaho Fish and Game Department spokesman. "Before 2014, the state record had stood for 38 years, but it has been topped at least four times in the last two years by perch caught in Lake Cascade."

The reservoir was overhauled in the early 2000s. Fish and Game crews removed tons of unwanted fish, mostly northern pikeminnows, and transplanted 850,000 adult perch.

"Those transplants sparked a perch revival that produced billions of young perch, which not only recovered the perch population, but also provided a flourishing food base for other game fish in the reservoir," Phillips said.

A fall 2015 fisheries survey found 27 percent of the perch were longer than 12 inches and 8 percent were more than 14 inches.

The state's perch record stood for 38 years  until two years ago when the records started toppling. Four record fish caught in the last two years were landed in the months of February and March.

See Idaho's Record Fish webpage for current state records, rules and details on entering potential record fish for traditional or catch-and-release categories.

Mounting a record?

If a state record fish is caught using a Mack's Lure product the company will pay to have the fish mounted.

"It's a nice incentive to those folks as taxidermy for fish can be quite expensive!" says company spokesman Lance Merz.