Axel Angelow, an 8-year-old from Fairbault, Minnesota, caught a hefty black crappie while fishing with his dad, Ryan Angelow, on Cedar Lake in October 2024. The fish measured 18 inches and weighed 3 pounds, 13 ounces, breaking the previous state record by over 4 ounces. Minnesota Fish and Wildlife celebrated the young boy’s state-record crappie being made official in a Dec. 27 Facebook post.
The Angelows did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Ryan recently told reporters with the Hometown Source that he’d just gotten off work at Owatonna Motor Company, where he is a service technician. He went home and asked his three kids if they wanted to go fishing. Axel was the only taker.
“In the pictures, I’m still in my work uniform,” Ryan said.
The pair headed to their favorite spot on Cedar Lake in Rice County. Although they weren’t expecting to catch anything too exciting, the outing made a turn when Axel hooked his big crappie.
“We thought it was a big northern or something like that, but then it ended up being the big crappie,” Ryan said. “Then we started thinking, that’s pretty big. I knew the record had previously been broken in May, so we measured it and weighed it, and it was the record.”
After weighing the fish on his personal scale, Ryan knew Axel had a special fish. He made several phone calls to find a certified scale, which is required for record certification in Minnesota and most other states. The next morning, they weighed Axel’s fish at the Minnesota DNR’s Waterville Area Fisheries Office. The next step was to file the official paperwork.
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“I filled the form out with my name, but I wanted him to have the record,” Ryan told the Source. “This was a joint effort between us, but since he’s the one that actually reeled it in, he’s the record holder.”
Axel’s fish broke the previous state record, set in May 2024 by Nolan Sprengeler. Sprengeler, who also holds the Minnesota muskie record, actually broke the Minnesota black crappie record twice last year. His most recent state-record crappie weighed 3 pounds 9 ounces, and it was caught from Cedar Lake as well, according to the DNR’s list of fishing records, which hasn’t yet been updated to show Axel’s new record of 3 pounds, 13 ounces.
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When Axel’s siblings found out he had caught a state-record fish, they were happy for him. However, Ryan said Axel’s older brother was a bit jealous.
“He likes to fish as much as Axel,” Ryan said. “He’s very happy and proud, but he probably wishes the roles were reversed.”
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