A 3-pound fish may not sound that big in a lake where the biggest fish caught by rod and reel -- a 48-pound, 11-ounce striped bass -- was landed, but for Jim Maack and a young Division of Wildlife Resources' technician it was the fish that will never be forgotten.

Maack, of Comstock, Wis., was with his buddies on an annual spring fishing trip in early May in the Escalante Arm of Lake Powell when the group came across a school of extra large black crappie.

Being panfish connoisseurs, the group had to check the size of the fish. Two weighed more than 3 pounds. The group hurried to Bullfrog Marina to get the fish weighed on a certified scale, but found the post office closed. A bass tournament was being held that weekend and, using certified scales, the largest fish weighed in at 3-pounds, 5-ounces, more than 3 ounces over the existing record caught in 1993 at Quail Creek Reservoir. The fish was 18 1/2 inches long.

DWR employee Andrew Garchar, who was on his first day of work as a creel surveyor at Powell, verified the weight and length of the fish.

- Brett Prettyman