Ice fishing alone on a pond in Rhode Island, Zachary Taylor landed a 15-pound, 12-ounce rainbow trout, pulling it through a 6-inch hole in the ice and immediately exclaiming, “I think I got the state record baby!”
Taylor took the catch to Jerry’s Bait and Tackle in Milford where officials from the Fish and Wildlife Department at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management confirmed the fish as a state record, as reported by The Valley Breeze.
The catch at Peck Pond on Jan. 18 surpassed the old mark of 12 pounds, 9.12 ounces.
“I did not expect that or anticipate that, it was quite the surprise and extremely exciting,” Taylor told The Breeze.
Taylor was definitely excited, as his video holding up the fish will attest.
Burrillville resident sets state record for largest rainbow trout caught.
He shared the video he took right after the catch. https://t.co/B9oYt9BbTm pic.twitter.com/E7KFzgZRUu
— bella pelletiere (@Bellapell__) February 1, 2024
When he got the fish close to the opening, he reached down inside the tiny hole and grabbed the fish by its gills.
“Finally, with some finagling, it squeezed through,” he told The Breeze. “I was literally shaking with excitement and adrenaline.”
At the tackle shop, he said fish and wildlife officials were excited about the catch, too. “Everybody was coming down to look at the size of that thing.”
Photo courtesy of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.