The 36-Pound Chinook That Doesn’t Count as a Record

There are fish stories, and then there is the rumor coming off Fort Peck this fall, delivered with a jolt…word around the ramps is that the biggest king Montana FWP crews have shocked up for the annual egg take is a 36-pound male–a hook-jawed brute held up for the camera by hatchery culturist Ryan Lott. Salmon rumors on this reservoir are like wind forecasts…everyone has one, and none ever seems exaggerated. But 36 pounds isn’t a fish story. That’s a lightning rod!!

Montana’s record king is the 32.65-pounder Jim Fauth trolled out of this same reservoir on Aug. 8, 2024. Fort Peck is also the only water in Montana where you can legally snag one, Oct. 1–Nov. 30 (via FWP regs), and a snagged fish counts as legally harvested — FWP’s record book lists its 142.5-pound paddlefish with one word in the tackle column: “Snagged.” So, this 36-pound king would have taken the record by 3.35 pounds, snagged or lured.

But, this big one met the electrofishing boat and the spawn-taking probe. Wade Geraets, FWP Hatchery Manager, says this year’s egg capacity is about 800,000, with 361,000 eggs collected as of Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, per Tyler Haddix, FWP fisheries biologist…which is roughly 45 percent of capacity, so the take is still short. And a fish that never took a hook doesn’t make the record book.

So, what do you think? If somebody had boated this brute by snagging, do you agree that it should still be listed under the same record as one caught on tackle? This is an ongoing debate that most likely will not ever be settled.

^{Feature photo: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks hatchery culturist, Ryan Lott}