NORTH DAKOTA — As the saying goes if you teach a man to fish then you can feed him for a lifetime. And one Beulah boy reeled in a fish this past week that could definitely feed him, maybe not for a lifetime but pretty close to it.

9-year-old Eli, his dad Josh, and his grandad Jacob represent 3 generations of the Mindt family, and fishing has always been a big part of their lives.

“Pretty much since I have been a little kid I have always been big into fishing and I always tagged along so I have been fishing pretty much my whole life,” says Eli’s dad, Josh Mindt.

Eli’s grandad, Jacob Mindt adds, “Yeah he kind of grew up under the dash of my boat.”

They have made it tradition between the three of them to get out on the water as much as possible, but not without a little competition.

“Kind of started razing my son up a little bit and have a little challenge,” says Josh. “We will have first fish, biggest fish, and most fish and of course, he took that challenge pretty seriously.”

They told me the competition was pretty much back and forth all day.

“And then I caught a 5 pounder and that was pretty much the biggest fish almost and then I was like I’m so winning, but then a few minutes later my papa caught a 6 pounder and I was like ‘AHHH C’monn,’” says Eli.

But that’s when Eli’s luck quickly took a turn for the amazing.

“My pole just drills down and I’m like holy cow this could be it and my dad was like…’Is that a snag?’ and I was like ‘probably,’” says Eli. “And then I start reeling it in a little more and once I got to 3 reels and stuff. It just starts drifting and then it drills even more and then I was like holy cow this is a fish.”

“He got it about a quarter of the way in and then the fish started fighting pretty good. Then he worried me a little bit because he was talking about it ripping the pole out of his hands or something and I was like you better hold on to that fish,” says Josh.

Eli did hold on to that fish. He ended up bringing in a 10.3 lb Walleye. The biggest fish any of the Mindt boys had ever brought in.

“It was pretty amazing to get to see him get to out fish his dad of course and I have never caught a fish near that big before. So it was pretty impressive to see that,” says Josh.

Josh jokes that this family rivalry isn’t even close to being over though …

“Well I know we are going to have to take him out a few more times because no that ain’t going to keep up. I have to show him that’s not the way it’s going to go every time.”

Eli adds, “My pool is very lucky so I am sure I am going to keep catching those fish. I’m going to keep out fishing them. My dad said you better not out fish me again and I am just like … well, I did.”