CHEYENNE โ Sometimes, youโre not sure what youโre pulling in, and that was the scenario for fisherman Owen Schaad when he spotted the new state record tiger trout on his line.
The Cheyenne local was enjoying a day with family and fishing at Viva Naughton Reservoir near Kemmerer, a typical summer activity for him. They often fish there without much luck, so he was taken aback when he reeled in over 20 fish, including several tiger trout. Then, he hooked the big one.
โI was out there fishing for around 4 hours,โ Schaad shared. โSuddenly, I snag this huge fish and Iโm thinking itโs a brown trout. It took about 20 minutes to reel it in close enough to see. When I finally got it to the shore and into the net, and saw what it was, I was ecstatic, hopping around in joy.โ
Schaad shattered a state record that had stood for 11 years, last set in May 2012. Interestingly, heโs one of the few people to break a trout state record in recent times.
The previous tiger trout in 2012 and splake in 2011 are the only trout state records to have been broken in the 21st century. These two hybrid species are relatively new to Wyoming. Before 2011, the latest trout state record was set in 1995 when a 50-pound lake trout was caught at Flaming Gorge Reservoir, matching a state record from 1983.
โFish require extraordinary conditions to reach that size. As these fish are caught, the chances of another fish growing under those conditions and being caught again soon decrease,โ explained Mark Smith, Assistant Fisheries Management Coordinator for Game and Fish.
โRecords for popular sport fish tend to plateau over time due to the unique environmental conditions needed to yield exceptionally large fish.โ
Schaad took the fish home and contacted the local game warden before taking it to a grocery store โ one of two nearby places with a certified scale. The official weight on the scale was 11.93 pounds. The fish measured 31 inches in length with a girth of 16.5 inches.
โIt was probably the most thrilling day of my life,โ Schaad expressed.
Schaad has been urged by others to reveal what he used to catch his record-breaking trout, but heโs keeping mum. He mentioned he used โa large rod with a sturdy line.โ
โI went fishing that evening and didnโt catch a single fish. So it was definitely a one-off. I was in the exact same spot, too, and didnโt even spot one. That day was just extraordinary, I suppose, it was just destined to be,โ Schaad reflected.
โKudos to Owen on his fantastic catch and remarkable fish,โ Smith commended. โOwen isnโt the first angler to break a state record this year, and hopefully, he wonโt be the last.โ
Earlier this year, the state records for both longnose and white sucker were broken โ one Riverton angler caught both along the same stretch of the Wind River.
