43-pound, world-record rainbow trout caught in
Canada
Identical twins in Canada
who target behemoth trout and call themselves The
Fishing Geeks may be destined for a more complimentary
moniker after their most recent milestone — the
world-record rainbow.
Adam and Sean Konrad, 26, of
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, each have line-class records for
rainbow trout as recognized by the International Game Fish
Association. But Adam was the lucky angler who hooked into their
largest rainbow trout the evening of June 5 at nearby Lake
Diefenbaker, while Sean was targeting walleye on this reservoir
system of the South Saskatchewan River.
The final tally after the 20-minute tussle
to get the bruiser 'bow to shore: 43.6 pounds, 38.75 inch in
length and a girth of 34 inches. Should the numbers stand, Adam
Konrad will hold the all-tackle world record for rainbow trout,
eclipsing the 42-pound, 2-ounce standard that was set by a boy,
David White, in June 1970 on Alaska's Bell Island.
"I call it a freak of nature, but that's
what we were looking for," Konrad told ESPNOutdoors.com.
He was casting from shore using an orange,
4-inch Mepps Syclops spoon on 6-pound line. If his line tests to
that strength, Konrad also will break the 6-pound line-class
rainbow record of 31¾ pounds, taken at New Mexico's Santa Cruz
Lake in 1999, according to Becky Reynolds, the IGFA's world
record coordinator. And should the line test high, to 8 pounds,
Adam will overtake his brother's record of 34½ pounds, Reynolds
said.
Adam
Konrad already holds the 12-pound line-class record of 33
pounds, 6 ounces. Each of the Konrad twins' records has been
produced at Lake Diefenbaker.
Konrad has 90 days in which
to submit his catch for record consideration, but he said he
already has sent all his paperwork to Reynolds, who confirms she
has spoken with Konrad about the catch and has seen photos of
the brute.
Reynolds said the twins certainly have a
reputation for catching big trout. "They have started and are
after the jackpot for rainbows," said Reynolds, who can't
comment on pending records.
Photo evidence of
the 43.6-pound rainbow was first publicized on
trophytroutguide.com, which has an exclusive arrangement
with the Konrads. An article has since appeared in the Saskatoon
StarPhoenix newspaper.
"It is an ugly one and it is fat," Adam
Konrad told the StarPhoenix. "With a 34-inch girth, that's
bigger than a human, almost."
The Konrads hope eventually to make
livings out of guiding for trophy Saskatchewan trout, and they
certainly aren't hurting their reputations with the fish they've
brought in recently. Most are released, but "every once in a
while" one winds up on the dinner table, Adam Konrad said. And,
if you're keeping tabs, the 43.6-pounder is most definitely on
ice, he said.
Konrad said he had released an 18-pound
rainbow trout some 10 minutes before hooking into the world
record about 100 feet from shore. "Then my heart just starting
going up," he said. "At first I couldn't move this thing, then I
felt the tail wag."
Afterward, the twins bagged the behemoth,
drove it home, put it in the freezer, then had it weighed the
next morning at a Saskatoon butcher shop.
"Our goal was to break every line-class
IGFA record for rainbow trout, then to break the all-tackle
record," Adam Konrad said. "But it looks like we broke the world
record sooner."
Sean Konrad still has yet to apply for a
50-pound line-class record with the 26½-pound rainbow trout he
caught at Diefenbaker two weeks back. The twins only have the
2-, 4-, 16-, 20- and 30-pound line-class records to tackle now.
"We want to prove to people how big fish
are here," Adam Konrad said. "Saskatoon is underrated."
Not any longer, Adam, not
any longer. |
