(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A junior at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) could have set the state’s record for a walleye he caught, if not for a technicality.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) posted about the historic catch on Twitter, and said the walleye caught by Cole Philip, a California native and pitcher for the UCCS Mountain Lions’ baseball team, would have set the state record for length.

CPW said Philip caught the monster walleye at Brush Hollow State Wildlife Area south of Colorado Springs on Monday night, April 3.

The walleye did not break the record for weight, as it weighed in at 13.26 pounds – 4.86 pounds short of the record holding 18.12 pound walleye caught in 1997 in Standley Lake by Scott Regan. However, the walleye caught by Philip would have broken the record for length.

Philip’s walleye measured 31.75 inches in length, which would have broken the catch-and-release state record of 30 inches, but it doesn’t qualify for the record because it was not released.

To qualify, Philip would have had to measure the massive fish alive, document it with photos, and release it back into Brush Hollow Reservoir. However, after weighing the walleye on Tuesday, Cory Noble, a CPW aquatic biologist, urged him to submit it for a CPW Master Angler Award.

Regardless of whether he broke the state record or not, Philip still knocked this one out of the park.