The winter fishing season is off to a noteworthy start in Idaho as one angler has already pulled a record trout through the ice.
Jordan Rodriguez, after boring a hole on newly frozen-over Grasmere Reservoir on Dec. 12, reeled up a 2.27-pound Lahontan cutthroat trout.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game on Friday announced that the catch smashed the previous state record of 1.17 pounds, set in September at the same 29-acre lake.
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“With winter finally here, you might have thought we were done with new record fish for a while. Nope, not yet!” Martin Koenig, Natural Resource Program Director for the IDFG, wrote in a blog post.
Koenig explained that Lahontan cutthroat trout are native to the Lahontan basin of northern Nevada, northeastern California, and southeastern Oregon. But the fish are routinely planted in several high-desert Idaho lakes, including Grasmere Reservoir in Owyhee County.
Koenig did not say what type of bait or lure Rodriguez used to entice the 20-inch cutthroat onto his hook.
–Image showing Jordan Rodriguez with his record catch is courtesy of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game