COLORADO STATE RECORD FOR BROOK TROUT BROKEN FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS YEAR
They state records are made to be broken, but when it takes three quarters of a century, we can’t blame anybody for thinking a high mark in the fishing record books is unsurpassable.
Which is what makes it a lot more astonishing that Colorado’s brook trout record, which stood for 75 years, has actually been broken not once however two times this year.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has actually just announced that it has accredited another state record caught by Matt Smiley from Waterdog Lake, near Lake City in Hinsdale County.
Smiley’s fish determined 26.25 inches long, had a massive 16-inch girth, and weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces easily eclipsing the brand new record that had actually been set by Tim Daniel in May 2022.
Daniel didn’t have much time to delight in having the record for his 23.25-inch, 7.84-pound brookie, which he caught from Monarch Lake in Grand County.
That fish had a similarly outstanding 15.375-inch girth and dethroned a fish captured back in 1947.
The catch was the culmination of yearslong dream for Smiley. It took some effort to get this fish, too.
Waterdog Lake lies at the end of a 3.9-mile hike and has a 2,400-foot elevation gain to get there.
Smiley was just about all set to call it a day, due to the fact that he was only capturing smaller sized fish when the big brook bit.
“When it surfaced and I could see it, all I could think was ‘Wow.'” Smiley said in a CPW press release. “I’ve caught big brookies in the past around the state, but when I saw this one, it was just different. It had way more length than any of the big ones before.”
The trout likewise gave him a fight to remember. At one point, the fish flopped out of his landing net, yet it miraculously stayed hooked, beginning a whole new battle.
Thankfully, he landed it on the second effort with the net. Smiley then was faced with a challenging choice of letting it go or taking it back to validate the weight.
There was clearly no chance the fish might survive a nearly 4-mile hike back to civilization.
“The toughest thing for me with this whole deal was deciding to keep the fish,” Smiley said. “I’ve released so many over the years, but it was one of those deals where I made a quick decision and wanted to give this fish the recognition it deserves.”
After leaving the mountain, Smiley took the fish directly to a licensed scale at the Lake City Post Office. It was then checked by CPW water biologist Dan Brauch, who certified the fish.
Sources: coloradooutdoorsmag
