It would be incredible if every bite on the end of the fishing line could be a record-breaking fish of some type.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. But you won’t hear many anglers complain.
Even though every angler constantly dreams of catching a fish that’s bigger than the last, they’ll keep going back even when that doesn’t pan out.
Matt Smiley found his dream fish on the other end of his line while fishing at Flaming Gorge Reservoir last month in Utah.
It was a record-breaking catch-and-release lake trout that came in at 48-inches, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
Smiley didn’t weight the fish so he didn’t have to keep it out of the water any longer than he needed to.
Weight or no weight, the monster lake trout officially became a state record fish and is the fourth record-breaking fish to have been caught in the same waters.
A salmon caught by Ray Johnson in 2004 had been the largest catch-and-release fish for the state of Utah, at 26-5/8-inches, before Smiley’s trout came in at 26-5/8-inches.
Smiley didn’t just break the record, he absolutely shattered it.
The other two record-breakers were both caught in 1997. One was a 14-1/4-inch chub and the other a 19-inch sucker that were both caught in Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
A full list of the current record-breaking fish can be found at the UDWR website.
These fish are sure to make many of the anglers in the state chase after the next lunker.
From the looks of Smiley’s trout, he’ll be holding that record for a long, long time.
