Of course...four days after I caught my massive Laker in the BW, my friend just had to one-up me and catch a larger one. His was a true beast. Just shy of 40" and estimated between 23-25lbs...at least...Check this out:



Joe's Giant Lake Trout

Wow Eric, that’s just amazing.

WOW.
What a thrill..
That's where good knots and line stand out...
What kind of line was he using..
You definitely have this dialed in
Congrats.

Nice fish. Get that guy a rod with some more guides!

Nice fish. You guys are living my dream.

How old do you think that fish is?

Love the bend in the pole during the fight, can only imagine the power that fish had.

T

nice trout! great video, too.

Frickin awesome. Y'all are living the dream. Thanks for sharing

Amazing fish and great video capturing the moment.

"A 3 oz bait smacking the bottom" sounds like a winning strategy of getting the lure down where the fish are!

Wow- what a catch! Well done. Fun video

Very nice!!!

yogi59weedr: "WOW.
What a thrill..
That's where good knots and line stand out...
What kind of line was he using..
You definitely have this dialed in
Congrats. "

I am pretty sure he was using 25lbs braid as his main-line to the in-line sinkers (3oz total) then a heavy flourocarbon leader...I believe 20lb Berkley Vanish...

HighnDry: ""A 3 oz bait smacking the bottom" sounds like a winning strategy of getting the lure down where the fish are!"

Unfortunately he was too excited to mention it in the video, but we were drifting with the wind, not trolling, probably going between 3/4 and 1mph. He wanted to lay down for a quick nap so he let line out until it hit bottom, reeled in about a foot, then rested the rod between his legs and reclined...it was only a few seconds after he relaxed that this fish nailed his bait...seems like the fish know when you aren't paying attention sometimes...

Taking a nap in the canoe.
Gotta love it...
Watta way to wake up from a dream.

Really very nicely done. A question for you (and others): I generally fish with 8lb fireline and a fluorocarbon leader on a spinning combo in the BWCA and Quetico. I have caught a few lakers doing this while trolling a spoon or tail dancer, but nothing of any real size. My question is whether you think that set-up has a sporting chance to land a beast like that, or that a baitcaster with heavier line and leader is necessary. Thanks for all replies.

eagleriverwalleye: "Really very nicely done. A question for you (and others): I generally fish with 8lb fireline and a fluorocarbon leader on a spinning combo in the BWCA and Quetico. I have caught a few lakers doing this while trolling a spoon or tail dancer, but nothing of any real size. My question is whether you think that set-up has a sporting chance to land a beast like that, or that a baitcaster with heavier line and leader is necessary. Thanks for all replies. "

I am sure you could land a fish like this if you HAD to, but why risk losing a once in a lifetime fish? If you are tying on a flourocarbon leader anyways, why not go with a heavier main-line braid? I really like the heavy braid for its durability and you would have to go up to like 50lbs braid to get as thick of a diameter as an 8-10lbs mono. A lot of my strategy is fishing VERY near bottom, which means I snag a lot. With 8lb test, you don't have much strength to pull out a nasty snag. I don't know how many lures I have saved by overturning small boulders or breaking branches to get unstuck or bending the hooks of my lure before the line breaks.

Also, Flouro is nearly invisible in the water so why not go for something larger to give extra strength and abrasion resistance? Trout are not as finicky as walleye, even in super-clear water, so I don't think I am losing that many fish to line visibility. I always tie at least a 5' flouro leader, so visibility isn't an issue.

The big laker I caught in my other video did damage the heavy 14lbs leader with its big head shakes and sharp teeth/gill plate, which I replaced before I continued fishing. I am sure that if it would have had lighter leader on I would have lost that fish along with my lure lodged in its mouth.

As for reel, I really don't think it matters as long as it has a good drag system and you are checking it often. Joe caught his on a trolling reel, I caught mine on a spinning reel...both worked just fine.

airmorse: "Nice fish. You guys are living my dream.


How old do you think that fish is?"

Awesome fish!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

Not saying it was caught in Knife Lake, but it's a pretty good representative of lakers and has some big trout. The following is from the DNR Survey back in 2017 ;

The deep water gillnet catch for lake trout was 2.1 fish/net which was the highest on record for Knife Lake and better than average compared to other lake trout populations in the Tower area. Lengths ranged from 12 to 32.5 inches with an average just over 22 inches. These sizes were comparable to past lake trout catches from Knife. The average fish weighed just over 4 pounds which was good compared to other lake trout lakes. Not all the lake trout caught were aged but of those that were, ages ranged from 2 to 28 years. All fish over 17 inches or older than 7 years were mature. Growth rates were faster than normal for young fish but as they aged, rates slowed more than the average lake trout population. On average a 26 inch lake trout from Knife Lake was 20 years old.

So I would venture to guess that baby at 38-39" was at least 36 years old, probably in the low 40's. Pretty nuts when you think about it.

WhiteWolf: "

airmorse: "Nice fish. You guys are living my dream.



How old do you think that fish is?"

Awesome fish!!!!! Thanks for sharing.


Not saying it was caught in Knife Lake, but it's a pretty good representative of lakers and has some big trout. The following is from the DNR Survey back in 2017 ;


The deep water gillnet catch for lake trout was 2.1 fish/net which was the highest on record for Knife Lake and better than average compared to other lake trout populations in the Tower area. Lengths ranged from 12 to 32.5 inches with an average just over 22 inches. These sizes were comparable to past lake trout catches from Knife. The average fish weighed just over 4 pounds which was good compared to other lake trout lakes. Not all the lake trout caught were aged but of those that were, ages ranged from 2 to 28 years. All fish over 17 inches or older than 7 years were mature. Growth rates were faster than normal for young fish but as they aged, rates slowed more than the average lake trout population. On average a 26 inch lake trout from Knife Lake was 20 years old.


So I would venture to guess that baby at 38-39" was at least 36 years old, probably in the low 40's. Pretty nuts when you think about it. "

That's just crazy! I gotta get back to Knife lake.

Great fish & great video, thanks for sharing!

When that fish came up to the surface, the smile on my face just opened up. Amazing catch and even better to have it all on video!

Those were some great fish. Both the videos I watched were fantastic.

Nice Work!