Did MN Teen Angler Make World-Record Catch?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A Minnesotan could soon hold a world record for the giant sturgeon he caught over the weekend.

The fish he caught was 86-inches long and weighed around 160 pounds.

That's pretty incredible, because the person who caught it, 13-year-old David Jacobson, is 18 inches shorter and nearly 60 pounds lighter than his catch.

"I was taking a nap," Jacobson said.

And a good thing he did, because 30 minutes later, Jacobson needed all his strength for the catch of a lifetime on Yellow Lake in Wisconsin.

"We had the reels in free spool with the clicker on hoping that you'll hear that jaws, click-click sound," Jacobson's father, Erik, said. "Sure enough, we did."

Erik Jacobson set the hook and handed over the reel. The battle was on.

"I started to reel, and it just ran," David Jacobson said. "It just ran."

Minute after minute, no one could see what exactly was on the line -- until the beast showed itself.

"It just jumped," David Jacobson said. "It couldn't even get out of the water. It was too big. It got about halfway out and just flopped back in like a whale."

"It sounded like a kid jumping off a dock," Erik Jacobson said.

"At that point, my brother started screaming shark," David Jacobson said.

But it wasn't a shark. It was a giant sturgeon, finally within reach.

They roped the tail and started pulling it on board, a tug of war between the Jacobson men and a sturgeon probably older than grandpa.

"I would say the moment that we finally got it onto the boat was probably a combination of relief, shock and, in general, chaos," David Jacobson said. "It just kept coming and coming and coming until the whole thing was on the boat. It practically took up the whole back."

It took the strength of three adult men to lift the fish.

"It turned out to be one of the longest sturgeon in the world," David Jacobson said.

In the end, the Jacobson men set the fish free, but they held onto their tale, which they can tell for all time.

"It's great when we all fish together," Erik Jacobson said. "It's a bonus when we catch something. Then to catch something like this... I believe my dad said, 'This one's for the books.'"

The Wisconsin state record sturgeon was 79 inches long and caught in 1979.

Unfortunately, even though this sturgeon was 86 inches, it won't count for a record because dad set the hook and his son reeled it in.

The rule is that only one person can fight the fish.