rainbow trout – Syndication Server

Fisherman finagles record rainbow trout through tiny hole in ice

Ice fishing alone on a pond in Rhode Island, Zachary Taylor landed a huge trout and exclaimed, “I think I got the state record, baby!”

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.

Angler releases potential record-shattering trout out of ‘respect’

A Northern California angler recently caught a rainbow trout so massive that it might have shattered the state record.

But Josh Giordano, who reeled the estimated 38.2-pound trout from a Feather River diversion pool on Dec. 7, chose not to kill the fish for the sake of a record.

(The California Department of Fish and Wildlife lists as the state record a 27-pound rainbow trout caught at Lake Natoma in 2005.)

Giordano, 43, from Bangor, told the Stockton Record that he released the trout “because of the respect I have for them, but also in hopes that one of our young upcoming anglers has a shot at becoming a legend or even a record holder.”

Giordano, who would have had to find a certified scale to have a shot at the record, obtained his weight estimate using a tape-measure formula.

The trout measured 41 inches, with a girth of 27 inches. Both measurements are significantly larger than those associated with the state-record.

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Giordano declared on Facebook that catching the massive rainbow trout at the Thermalito Diversion Pool, after a marathon battle, “was one of the most amazing moments in my life.”

The angler was casting a swimbait tied to a 15-pound leader and 20-pound braid when the fish struck.

“When I hooked this fish I knew immediately how giant it was when it peeled off 150 yards of line in about 20 seconds,” he told the Stockton Record. “I have never seen the power of a fish like It. The fish continued to jump, tail walk and do things I’ve never seen fish do on the surface.

“I was starting to get nervous as the fish got closer but it never got tired. I was about to land him when he decided to do another 100-yard run and the battle was on again. In an hour and 10 heart-stopping minutes, I was able to get my two hands on his tail.”

–Images courtesy of Joshua Giordano

Rainbow trout comes up blue in rare Lake Superior catch

Tanner Hrycyk is new to fishing Lake Superior, so when he landed a blue trout recently he figured there was nothing special about the catch.

Tanner Hrycyk is new to fishing Lake Superior, so when the 19-year-old reeled up a blue trout recently, he figured there was nothing special about the catch.

“At first I thought it was just a normal rainbow trout from Lake Superior,” Hrycyk told For The Win Outdoors. “But then we did some research and found out it wasn’t your average rainbow.”

The 27-inch fish turned out to be a hatchery-raised rainbow trout with a genetic mutation, giving it a sleek, bluish appearance.

While the Aug. 30 catch can be considered rare, “odd” color variations of fish raised in Great Lakes hatcheries are “not as abnormal as you might think,” said Ed Eisch, Fish Production Program Manager for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Eisch told For The Win Outdoors that the agency used to rear Arlee and Shasta strains of rainbow trout and “a noticeable number of fish had a bluish tinge to their skin color.”

The biologist added: “There are all sorts of genetic variations, including skin color, that occur in both wild and hatchery reared fish. In some instances, such mutations allow for better survival in localized populations if conditions favor the mutation. That mechanism allows for local adaptations to occur to increase survival.

“Most often, though, genetic mutations that occur in the wild make fish less fit to survive beyond the very early life stages. Hatchery fish are not subject to the same pressures of natural selection as wild fish are, so fish with mutations may survive longer than they would in the wild.”

Hrycyk, who lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, was fishing with a friend on Black Bay when the blue trout struck his Tail Dancer lure.

He kept the trout but said that in hindsight, after realizing that it was a special catch, he wishes that he would have returned the fish to the lake.

–Images are courtesy of Tanner Hrycyk

Angler lands record trout, but reaction is mixed

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game last week announced that a 31.25-inch rainbow trout caught by a visiting angler is a new state record.

The hefty trout, caught in late May by Wyoming’s Brett Jones at American Falls Reservoir, replaced the catch-and-release record of 30.5 inches, set in 2018.

But IDFG’s Facebook announcement generated mixed reactions. It seems that not everybody is a fan of catch-and-release records because they require only a measurement and don’t include the weight of the fish.

“Catch-and-release records are a joke,” one commenter wrote.

“They don’t mean jack,” another chimed in.

It’s worth noting that some comments were congratulatory – “Wow!” and “Awesome!” are two examples – and that catch-and-release record programs are designed to encourage conservation.

Because the fish must be released, they can be caught again at even larger sizes.

In Jones’ case, he had to provide a photo of the ruler or tape showing the measurement of his trout from its snout to the end of its tail. He also had to include a photo of himself with the fish, and the name of at least one witness to the measurement and release.

One of the Facebook detractors claimed to have caught “at least three bigger than that.”

Perhaps. But Idaho has common rainbow trout – the type caught by Jones – and a faster-growing Gerrard strain of rainbow trout.

The certified weight record for Gerrard rainbow trout is 37 pounds. That fish was caught at Pend Oreille Lake in 1947. The Idaho catch-and-release record for Gerrard rainbow trout, also set at Pend Oreille Lake, is 36.5 inches.

The common rainbow trout certified weight record is 20 pounds. That fish, caught on the Snake River in 2009, measured 34.25 inches.

So it might not have been significantly heavier than the 31.25-inch trout released by Jones.

–Image showing Brett Jones and his record rainbow trout is courtesy of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game