Michigan Teen Catches 48 Pound Salmon, Sets New State Record

MICHIGAN — Using a Moonshine raspberry carbon spoon lure this past weekend, a 19-year-old from Ortonville, Michigan, turned in a new state-record fish!

Luis Ricardo Hernandez Martinez was troll fishing with Capt. Bobby Sullivan of Icebreaker Charters on Lake Michigan near Ludington early Saturday morning, Aug. 7, when he caught a Chinook salmon weighing in at 47.86 pounds and measuring 47.5 inches.

"I never expected a catch like this would happen," Martinez said. "It's possible for anyone if I can do it! I would like to extend a great 'thank you' 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."

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.

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.

Note: The scale pictured in the above photo is from a local bait shop; the weight shown here is not the state-record weight. The official weight, 47.86 pounds, was measured on a certified scale by the DNR fisheries biologist.