Anytime someone catches the biggest fish of a certain species, it’s an amazing feeling to have that accomplishment. Often times that also means having your name put in the record books so everyone can see your dedication payed off. That wasn’t exactly the case for Mychael Althouse.
Althouse, who’s from Quakertown, Pennsylvania, caught a record sized golden rainbow trout that came in at a whopping 31 inches and weighed 13 pounds, 11 ounces on a recent fishing trip. He had actually fished the same spot – near the Allentown Police Academy – he caught the fish at multiple times before with his grandfather, Kenneth Althouse, while growing up.
“I grew up in Allentown,” Althouse said. “I still fish the Little Lehigh. I go back and that’s the only place I fish.”
He even used bread, which is the same bait he always used with his grandfather, on that fateful day.
“I didn’t really realize what I had until I started to get it in a little bit and then it got mad and took off,” he said. “It stretched my pole pretty good. It was a good 10- to 15-minute fight and I was only fishing with 4-pound test so I was nervous [it would break free].”
After his friend Brian Kleckner Sr. had to get in the water to physically help pull it to ashore, they took it to Brian Glenn, who owns Archery at the Glenn, to certify it.
“It’s the largest [golden rainbow trout] we’ve ever seen and it’s the largest I’ve weighed in at the shop,” Glenn said.
Althouse decided to find out what the current record for a golden trout was. The record was currently 13-pounds, 8-ounces and had been set by 12-year-old Eli Borger in 2008.
He decided to let the record stand as it was. To him, catching the fish was more about the personal memories he’ll cherish with his grandfather over the years.
“I said he was probably like 14 years old,” Althouse said. “If I was 14 and I held the record for the biggest trout in Pennsylvania, it would probably mean a whole lot to me, so I told Brendan just let him have it.”
“This fish was more symbolic for my grandfather,” he continued. “Up on the wall, the memories of fishing on the Little Lehigh all my life is good enough for me. That [kid] will go on and hold the record for now, and that’s a good thing.”
