In a recent fishing expedition at the Seven Sisters Wildlife Management Area in Montana, North American paddlefish, one of the largest freshwater fish in North America, made quite a splash. On June 12th, angler Trevor Swisse reeled in a mammoth paddlefish weighing a whopping 117 pounds (approximately 53 kilograms). What made this catch stand out was the fact that this particular fish had eluded capture for an astonishing 22 years.
Swisse, a father of two children Mason, age 15, and Charles, age 6, shared the thrilling experience of catching the massive paddlefish with his sons. He recounted the moment of the catch, stating that as soon as he cast his line into a calm backwater area behind a sandbar, the fish took the bait. With relative ease, Swisse brought the fish to shore. It wasn’t until he got closer to the shore that he realized the sheer size of the paddlefish.
Typically, adult paddlefish range in length from 80 to 220 centimeters, with the largest specimens reaching over 2.2 meters in length.
What makes this catch even more remarkable is the fact that this very fish had been captured 22 years ago. On April 27, 2004, personnel from the North Dakota Fish and Game caught this same paddlefish in the Missouri River while attempting to tag individuals in order to estimate the population in the area. At the time of its previous capture, the fish measured 49 inches (approximately 124 centimeters) in length and weighed 90 pounds (around 41 kilograms). Clearly, over the ensuing 22 years, the fish had grown substantially in size.
When regional fisheries manager Mike Backes of Montana saw the jaw tag on the paddlefish caught by Swisse, he was ecstatic as he recognized the fish from its past capture. He expressed his excitement, noting, “Given its immense size and the fact that it has been tagged for 22 years, this fish is truly remarkable.”
The catch location for Swisse’s paddlefish was at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Yellowstone River, precisely in the Seven Sisters Wildlife Management Area.
While the exact age of the paddlefish remains unknown, Backes estimates it to be at least 40 to 42 years old. He speculates that the upper age limit for paddlefish could be between 52 and 62 years.
Dennis Scarnecchia of Idaho State University has collected a small segment of the paddlefish’s jaw for age determination purposes. The precise age is expected to be confirmed by next spring.
Although the 117-pound paddlefish caught in Montana in 2026 ranks as the largest in the state, the historical record is held by Larry Branstetter, who caught a massive fish weighing 142.5 pounds on May 20, 1973.
The record for the largest paddlefish ever caught belongs to Chad Williams, who reeled in a paddlefish weighing 164 pounds 13 ounces on March 17, 2024, at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.