(Provided by IDNR)

Indiana State Record Spotted Gar

Jaxton Orr, a 13-year-old who lives in Fort Wayne, broke the Indiana size record for spotted gar last week while fishing on Big Lake in Noble County.

The size of Indiana state fish records are determined by weight. The record fish weighed 6.0 pounds. The old record for spotted gar was 5.1 pounds, caught from Turtle Creek Reservoir in Sullivan County in 2014 by Dale Haas. Orrís fish was 34.7 inches long and its girth measurement was 11 3/8 inches. DNR fisheries biologist Jed Pearson verified the record.

Orr caught the fish on a rod and reel using cut baits.

Indiana began keeping size records on spotted gar in 2011. Nine -year-old Noah Smith of Delaware, Ohio, caught a 3.17-pound, 29 3/16-inch spotted gar in late June of that year from Crooked Lake in Steuben County to set the original record.

For more information on the DNR Record Fish and Fish of the Year programs, please see www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3577.htm.