2026-10-22 · Cascade Lake, Rochester (Olmsted County)
Five Ounces Short — A 14-Year-Old, a Wake on Cascade Lake, and a Bass His Friends Thought Was AI
On the morning of Oct. 3, Zumbrota 14-year-old Luke Mulholland was fishing alone at Cascade Lake in Rochester when he cast a glide bait at a wake and hooked an 8-pound, 10-ounce largemouth. That's five ounces shy of the Minnesota record, which was caught on Oct. 3, 2005. It's headed for the wall.
Five ounces. That’s a can of tuna. That’s the jig box I lost off the dock in 2019 and still think about. And that’s how close a 14-year-old from Zumbrota just came to the Minnesota largemouth bass record, fishing from shore in Rochester on a Saturday morning in October.
A wake, a cast, and a log that wasn’t a log
Here’s what Outdoor News reported. Luke Mulholland was fishing alone at Cascade Lake on the morning of Oct. 3. He fishes three or four times a week, which is roughly three or four more times a week than my knees allow. He usually goes after trout, but that morning he was locked in on bass, throwing a 6-inch glide bait.
Around 10:30 he saw a wake. He cast at it. Then the rod got heavy, and he figured he’d snagged a log.
Every Minnesota angler knows that feeling. You’ve set the hook on a log so many times you’ve basically got a relationship with it. Except this log swam.
He told the paper the fish didn’t fight that hard in the moment. Then he saw how big it was and did what any of us would’ve done: he ran into the water and grabbed it. No net. No plan. Just a kid in October lake water hugging a bass like it owed him money.
Called Mom, then called around for a scale
He took a pile of photos and videos on shore. His friends thought it was AI. Honestly, fair. If somebody sent me that picture I’d zoom in on the fingers first.
Then he called his mom, Alicia Smith, to tell her it was the biggest bass he’d ever seen. She told Outdoor News she’d heard that line “maybe just a time or two” before, and that he’d already set several personal bests this summer. That’s a mom who has been shown a lot of phone pictures in the kitchen.
The two of them called around and found a certified scale at Silver Lake Foods. Final numbers: 8 pounds, 10 ounces, 23.5 inches long, with an 18.5-inch girth. His mom said the fish looked old, with battle scars.
So how close is close?
Per Outdoor News, citing the state’s record list, Minnesota’s largemouth record is 8 pounds, 15 ounces, also 23.5 inches long, with a 17.5-inch girth. It was caught in Carver County on Oct. 3, 2005.
Read that date again. Same day on the calendar, 21 years apart. Same length to the half inch. Luke’s fish was actually an inch thicker around the middle. The record fish just had five more ounces of something. Lunch, probably. I respect that.
For anybody wondering what it takes to get a fish on the books: according to the article, you need a certified scale, at least two witnesses, and a species check at a local fisheries office. The DNR keeps the official lists and the rules on its state record fish page.
First fish on the wall
Luke’s also a hunter and already has a few turkey trophies. This bass is going to be mounted, and it’ll be the first fish on his wall.
That’s the part that gets me. No boat, no sponsor, no tournament weigh-in. Just a kid who goes fishing a few mornings a week, kept showing up, and saw a wake at the right moment. That’s how most great fish stories start in this state. You don’t have to be up north. You just have to be out there.
Five ounces short of the record. Plenty long enough for the wall.