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MDNR Report

Luis Ricardo Hernandez Martinez with State Record KingLuis Ricardo Hernandez Martinez with State Record King

Using a Moonshine raspberry carbon spoon lure this past weekend, an angler from Ortonville, Mich. turned in a new state-record king salmon.

Luis Ricardo Hernandez Martinez was trolling with Capt. Bobby Sullivan of Icebreaker Charters on Lake Michigan near Ludington early Saturday morning when he caught a Chinook salmon weighing in at 47.86 pounds and measuring 47.5 inches.

This record breaks the previous state-record Chinook salmon - 46.06 pounds, 43.5 inches long - caught in 1978 by Ray Essex, of Grand Rapids, out of the Grand River in Kent County.

Moonshine raspberry carbon spoonMoonshine raspberry carbon spoon

"I never expected a catch like this would happen," Martinez said. "Itís possible for anyone if I can do it! I would like to extend a great ëthank youí to Capt. Bobby, as it was he who made this catch possible for me."

Captain Sullivan added, "Luis did an amazing job, executing perfectly everything I asked him to do in order to bring this fish in."

The new state-record Chinook salmon was verified by Jay Wesley, Lake Michigan Basin coordinator with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, with Scott Heintzelman, the DNR's Central Lake Michigan Management Unit supervisor, also present.

Michigan's state-record fish are recognized by weight only. To qualify for a state record, fish must exceed the current listed state-record weight, and identification must be verified by a DNR fisheries biologist.

To view a current list of Michigan state fish records by species, visit www.Michigan.gov/StateRecordFish.