Earlier this month, two anglers released a bull trout that almost certainly would have broken Oregon’s state record and may have broken a world record.
On the Deschutes arm of Lake Billy Chinook, Ryan Mejaski and Joe Wilhite were fishing when Mejaski cast his lure into a group of jumping kokanee. Whatever lure he used, it sank into about five feet of water before something grabbed it and took off. He declined to reveal what lure he was using to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).
When his medium-lightweight rod broke, the pair moved the boat and worked the fish on six-pound test line until, after about ten minutes, they caught the bull trout.
Wihite’s fishing net scale measured 25 pounds and measured 33.5 inches in length with a 26-inch girth.
In fact, the fish would have broken Oregon’s state record and had a chance to break the world record. Mejaski told the ODFW the fish was likely heavier, perhaps as heavy as 30 pounds.
Currently, the state record bull trout is 23 pounds, 2 ounces, caught also in 1989 from Lake Billy Chinook. The world record is 32 pounds, caught in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, in 1949.
It will never be known whether Mejaski’s fish deserves to be in the record books after he and his partner landed it, measured it, and took some pictures before returning it to the water.
“I’m a little bummed out we didn’t keep it so we could get the official record, but it was the right thing to do at the time. We really didn’t think about keeping it, we were so excited,” Mejaski said. “Every fisherman that we saw and showed photos of the fish said that they have never seen a bull trout that big. People were happy about us letting it go, but it would be really cool to have a record fish.”
Their historic range encompassed many waters across the northwest U.S., but their populations have declined in many areas, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
According to Jerry George, Deschutes District Fish Biologist, the Lake Billy Chinook population is healthy enough for anglers to target and harvest a small number.
“During our bull trout spawning ground surveys, we’ve seen an uptick in numbers in recent years. That has to do with an abundance of kokanee as a food source and lots of clean, cold water from the Metolius River and its tributaries that provide for excellent spawning and rearing habitat,” George said.
The maximum age for the species is unknown, but ages up to 24 years have been recorded, meaning the giant trout could continue to grow and reproduce for another decade.
Sources: The Meat Eater
