Sometimes, fishing is just about the joy of getting out on the water amid the rest of your day; hooking a huge catch is just the cherry on top. That couldn't be more true than for David Hunsicker, who was fishing in Pennsylvania's Pohopoco Creek at the end of April when he caught a rainbow trout weighing a hefty 15 pounds—large enough, in fact, that it might've broken the state's record. But Hunsicker will never know—he didn't want to miss his dinner plans with his family, so he opted to skip a visit to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's office for record consideration.
Hunsicker did end up keeping the fish and weighed it on his own hand scale. The huge trout unofficially clocked in at 15 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 31 7/8 inches with a 20 1/8-inch girth. If the official scale had confirmed his measurement, the creek trout would stand five ounces heavier than the 37-year standing Pennsylvania state record for a rainbow trout.
"It would have surpassed the record," Hunsicker told local news outlet GoErie.
Hunsicker who lives in Palmerton not 10 minutes from the Pohopoco Creek told GoErie that he hooked the trout in one of the creek's deep holes near a log using an ultralight rod and a four-pound test line. He added that he's caught plenty of big trout in the same creek before, as well as other small creeks connected to Beltzville Lake.
But this potential record-setting fish was certain a special site to behold.
Alas, sometimes you're just at your local hole to squeeze in the delights of a few casts while you can. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's office is over an hour from Pohopoco Creek, and Hunsicker explained that if he were to take his record-sized rainbow in, he would've had to change his dinner reservations.
Instead, he got to enjoy a great meal with his family, on time, and his hefty hook will soon be mounted at his taxidermist.
