According to reports, a 37.42 pound brown trout recently caught on Montana’s Marias River has set a new record for the state. Angler Robbie Dockter landed the record-setting 37-inch-long fish on March 3rd. He was using a Kastmaster spoon on a stretch of river very familiar to him when he hooked the massive brown trout, shattering a record that had stood for over 50 years.
“I’ve fished this stretch a lot on it’s a very good fishery and some very big trout,” Dockter said Friday evening. “I was thinking I’d finally gotten a brown over 10 pounds, but then she rolled in my headlamp and we realized this thing is next-level big.”
Fishing with a ultralight rod and 4-pound line, when Dockter first hooked the fish he thought he was snagged. It was after dark and with the frigid water temps the brown trout didn’t jump or make runs. Worried the fish was going to roll Dockter let the fish do its thing for about 15 minutes before eventually getting it to beach. His daughter, who joined him on the trip, was standing by with a net and was able to scoop the fish up.
The next day Dockter weighed the brown trout at Christiaens Meat & Grocery in Valier as it was the only place nearby with a scale that went above 30 pounds. The game warden meet them there and was able to certify catch. This beat the old record set by the E.H. Peck Bacon in 1966, whose 29-pound brown was caught in Wade Lake.
“It’s a really humbling experience and I think it proves that monsters do exist, and it’s proof that you just never know and it just takes that one cast,” Dockter said. “That’s what makes fishing so cool.”
Source: Independent Record
