U.S. fisher's lake trout catch poses challenge to record set in N.W.T.
CBC
A 33.24-kilogram lake trout.
A greenish-grayish speckled whopper the weight of a golden retriever.
That's a big fish.
And that's the fish that Scott Enloe reeled in from the Blue Mesa Reservoir, a man-made lake in Colorado, last week.
Enloe's catch poses a challenge to the record set by angler Lloyd Bull, who pulled a 32.6-kilogram lake trout from waters in the Northwest Territories in 1995.
"It's obviously the largest one I've ever seen," Enloe said of his remarkable haul.
"It was exactly 47 inches long and it had a 37-inch girth ... I'm a 35-inch waist and it was bigger than me."
But Enloe's catch may not make it into the International Game Fish Association's (IGFA) record books, where Bull holds the top lake trout spot.
That's because the organization requires that fish be weighed on land.
Enloe weighed, measured and photographed his fish on his boat — and then he let it go.
"Whether I get my name in the books or not, that's irrelevant to me," he said. "I was not going to kill the fish regardless."
Zac Bellapigna, angler recognition coordinator for the IGFA, said Enloe wouldn't have had to kill his trout, necessarily. Fishers can bring their fish to shore, weigh them, and release them alive.
"I commend him for releasing the fish alive, that's a good thing," said Bellapigna.
About 3,000 kilometres north of the Blue Mesa Reservoir sits the majestic Great Bear Lake, site of an Indigenous-led UNESCO-recognized biosphere reserve. It's known for producing some of the biggest lake trout ever caught.