Malta's Fauth Catches Fish of a Lifetime

Last Friday, Malta's Jim Fauth set out to stock his freezer with salmon from Fort Peck Reservoir. He did, just not in the way he was expecting.

By the end of his fishing expedition with his wife Nancy and friends Tony and Emily Simonsen, Jim landed a fish of a lifetime; a state record-setting Chinook salmon that officially weighed in at 32.62 pounds by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The fish was measured at 38-inches long with a 28-inch girth.

The record was last held by Greg Haug, who caught a 32.05 pound Chinook Salmon out of Fort Peck in August of 2020. Haug's fish was slightly longer at 38 ⅛ inches, with a girth of 26 ½ inches.

Fauth caught his fish on the eastside of Fort Peck Reservoir, about a mile and a half south of the Fort Peck Dam. His pontoon was trolling with a downrigger set at 80 feet, a little over half of the depth of that area.

"I saw my rod jump and I thought my wife had bumped it with her elbow," Fauth said. "She jumped up and then the rod kept jumping, so I grabbed it, and the fight was on."

What was surprising to Fauth, was that it only took four to five minutes to land the behemoth salmon.

"When I first grabbed it, it was running line like crazy and it probably took a couple 100 feet out," Fauth said. "I was able to get it brought into the boat and when it got real close, it was easy going. It quit fighting and I just wheeled it in."

When Simonson got the net under it, it was hard for Fauth to tell what it was, he just knew that it was awfully big.

"He netted it and thankfully he pulled the handle straight up because if he would have tried to lift with it, my net might not have handled it," Fauth said. "We pulled it in the boat and couldn't believe what we had. It took a minute or two for me to catch my breath. I knew it was a good fish, but I didn't know that it was that good."

The initial and unofficial weight of the fish was 33 pounds, nine ounces, but in order for a weight to officially count, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks had to be present during the weigh in.

Fauth caught the fish at 12:30 p.m. but the certification process was complete at 7 p.m. Fauth met with a FWP representative at Reynold's Market in Glasgow for an official weigh in.

"He certified it at 32.6258 inches, 38 inches long," Fauth said. "Add 28 inch girth, and this is a big fat ugly fish. There's a lot nicer fish come out of there, but this one was just a big fat boy and I was really thankful and blessed to be able to snag it just using a blue and white flasher and a green and white squid on the end, the only bite we had that day. It was kind of a slow day."

That bite was the group's lone salmon, but they had other success with catching Whitefish and Perch by York Island.

"Yeah, we were kind of hoping for some salmon, you know, for the grill, but as it turned out, we got a salmon in the freezer," Fauth said. "We are going to get it mounted because it's probably a fish of a lifetime. We have a spot in mind that we are going to hang it, but it won't be in our house. It's just a little too big."

But the fish is heading to Northern Angler's Taxidermy in Billings, and Fauth won't get the mount back for 16 months.

Fauth's salmon wasn't caught with very expensive or flashy gear. This includes his rod and reel, which is one of the older and least expensive that he owns.

"That was kind of ironic because we're parked at the Marina and looking around, there's a $100,000 boats there all over the place," Fauth said. "I've got a 25-year-old pontoon, the rod and reel that I used, my uncle gave me maybe 15 years ago. And it was a Walmart special for $29.95. They were cheap, on sale, and he didn't want to buy anything fancy. But you know what? Being in the right spot at the right time is really all it takes."

The largest fish caught by Fauth previously was likely a 20-plus pound Northern Pike out of Nelson Reservoir. Friday was the fourth time that Fauth had fished for salmon out of Fort Peck, and fifth time overall, having fished for salmon in Alaska one time.

"I'm not a professional salmon fisherman at all," Fauth said. "I just happened to catch a blessing."