An angler caught a 10-pound, 14-ounce coho salmon from Lake Superior in St. Louis County that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has certified as a state record, breaking the previous record from 1970.
David Cichosz caught the salmon on Sept. 4 while on a charter fishing trip with his wife Chris Sky. Cichosz said it was a beautiful morning in which Sky caught the first fish, a nice lake trout, and they proceeded to nearly catch their limit of lake trout before starting to fish for salmon. With Captain Kent Paulsen driving the boat they were sitting back enjoying the morning when Sky noticed the rod really moving.
“I quickly grabbed it and was off on the fight. I kept thinking to myself, ‘am I gaining any line on this fish?’” Cichosz said, adding that he was tempted to tighten the drag but Paulsen told him to leave it and let the fish take out line. “Once the fish broke the surface, I could tell by our captain’s response that we had a big fish.”
After they weighed the fish and took pictures, they found a certified scale at a grocery store in Duluth, and turned in the paperwork the next day to the DNR.
“I am thankful for the record but at the end of the day, I am happy to just share the joy of fishing with new friends and fellow [anglers] and to be on the lake with my wife,” Cichosz said.
The DNR announces state records in news releases, on social media and on its website. Find current records and guidelines for each type of state record at on the Minnesota DNR record fish webpage.