Bass angler lands new Indiana state record brown trout
Mitchell Boileck from Hammond, Ind. was minding his own business, fishing
from his boat for Lake Michigan smallmouth bass, when a 25-pound brown trout
smacked his lure and yanked him into Hoosier fishing history.
On Oct. 14, Boileck was fishing along the outer wall of Buffington Harbor,
near East Chicago, when Indiana’s biggest brown trout grabbed his tube jig
lure.
“I couldn’t get anyone to fish with me that day. I was using 8-pound-test
line, and I didn’t have a net, so it took a long time to boat the fish,”
said Boileck.
Boileck fought the fish for over an hour. He tried to grab the fish’s tail
several times, but the tail was too big to get his hand around. He finally
boated the fish by grabbing under the gill covers.
The champion angler weighed his catch on a state certified scale at the
Strack & Van Til Mega Mart in Highland, Ind. The scale stopped spinning at
25.08 pounds. The fish stretched 3 feet long and a tape wrapped around the
fish’s belly measured an amazing 2 feet of girth.
“I had to help the clerk lift the fish onto the scale,” said Boileck.
Boileck’s brown trout was recognized as a new state record on Oct. 30 after
Lake Michigan fisheries biologist Brian Breidert verified the catch. The
fish was caught near the harbor lighthouse in 17 feet deep water under a
partly sunny sky. Boileck used a medium action spin casting rod and reel.
Brown trout grow well in Lake Michigan. The Indiana state record brown trout
record was also topped twice in 1999. A record 23-pound, 33-inch Lake
Michigan trout caught in March 1999 by Joe Hankins of Martinsville was
surpassed in September of the same year when South Bend resident Steven Bay
pulled a 24-pound, yard-long brown trout from Michigan City’s Trail Creek.
Photo of Mitchell Boileck and state record brown trout:
http://www.IN.gov/dnr/fishwild/gallery/browntrout.htm
Lake Michigan fishing information:
http://www.IN.gov/dnr/fishwild/lkmich/open.html
Record fish information:
http://www.IN.gov/dnr/fishwild/fishng/rcordfh.htm