New Hampshire's new largest lake trout shatters a 62-year-old record!
Records are made to be broken, even the ones that have stood for seemingly a lifetime. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department recently announced that the Granite State's long-standing lake trout record has finally been toppled.
The fish that Thomas Knight caught on February 25 didn't just edge out the state record, it shattered it by over nine pounds! In a press release, it was reported the 37.65-pound fish came from Big Diamond Pond in West Stewartstown. The lucky angler caught it while ice fishing. The 40-inch fish had an enormous 27-inch girth.
The NHFG says in their press release that Knight recognized the significance of the catch right away and immediately began making phone calls get the huge catch certified. In New Hampshire, all new records must be validated by a biologist. So, NHFG Fisheries Biologist Andy Schafermeyer was one of the first people Knight contacted.
"I'm not sure who was more excited," Schafermyer said in a press release. "I knew the fish stood a very good chance of breaking the record."
New Hampshire's previous record laker was a 28-pounder caught all the way back in 1958. One of the first scales Knight and Shafermyer found only measured up to 30 pounds and the fish's size bottomed it out. This led to the men having to drive around to locate an officially certified scale that could handle the enormous lake trout, which was estimated to be over 50 years old. After much searching, they eventually found one that could do the job at a package distribution center where the weight of 37.65 was officially recorded. From there, it was easy to finish up certifying the new state record.
"Most state records, when bested, are done so by only a few ounces," Schafermyer said. "Knight's fish shattered the old record by over 9 pounds."
Not only is the trout the biggest taken in New Hampshire, but the biggest ever caught in New England, which is an amazing thing to say given that part of the country's storied history. The story of Knight's record catch has already spread like wildfire across social media and through the news. It's not every day someone breaks a 62-year-old record. Congratulations to Knight on his amazing catch from all of us at Wide Open Spaces!
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