Grant Bentz of McGaheyesville, Virginia, set a brand new state file when he pulled a large 14-pound 12-ounce rainbow trout out of Spring Creek on June 9, in accordance with a Wednesday press release from the Virginia Division of Wildlife Sources.
Bentz first hooked the massive rainbow on June 8. He was fishing on personal property with permission from the landowner, tossing a Berkley Gulp! Minnow on a jighead. The spot is one he’s fished for greater than 20 years. On his final forged of the day, Bentz noticed a colossal flash deep in a pool simply earlier than the stream from flat water to high-gradient rapids.
“This massive head got here up and gulped the jig,” Bentz mentioned. “I set the hook, and the battle ensued. It was 5 minutes of chasing this fish. I used to be sporting waders and working up and down the stream as a result of I couldn’t cease it. It was simply so large. I lastly bought it to the web, however as a result of it was simply too heavy, the jighead bent, and I misplaced the fish.”
Though dropping an enormous trout was disappointing, Bentz didn’t quit. Having hooked large trout earlier than, he knew that this fish, which he estimated on the time to be about 10 kilos, and knew that the fish wasn’t more likely to transfer very removed from the spot in such a small watershed. He returned the next day with gear higher fitted to reeling in large trout.
“I got here again the following morning spooled up with 10-pound braid and placed on a circle hook with a complete nightcrawler I gathered, which appears to be what large trout will eat,” Bentz mentioned.
He managed to hook up with the identical large rainbow on his first forged. He fought the enormous for an thrilling 5 minutes. The trout had managed to fray the road, nonetheless, which snapped simply as Bentz tried to wrangle it into the web. After getting a more in-depth have a look at the fish, Bentz realized it was far bigger than he’d first guessed.
“The second time I misplaced it, I bought a greater have a look at it, and I spotted the fish is likely to be extra like 12 kilos,” Bentz mentioned. “I’d misplaced it twice now, however this had occurred to me earlier than on smaller fish. I figured I’d simply give him a bit of time to relax as a result of bigger fish in a small stream like that, they’re hungry on a regular basis. So usually, for those who give them a while to overlook about what occurred, they’ll eat once more.”
Bentz left the fish to settle whereas he visited with the landowner over a number of cups of espresso. When he returned to the stream an hour later, the massive trout ended up on his hook once more.
“It was nonetheless an enormous struggle, however I really feel just like the fish had used up a whole lot of its vitality throughout the first struggle,” he mentioned. “It was nonetheless a wrestle, however finally, I bought him into the web, which was solely about half the scale it wanted to be.
After Bentz pulled the fish onto the financial institution and bought a great have a look at it, he realized it was a lot bigger than 12 kilos.
After snapping a number of images, Bentz measured the fish at 33 inches lengthy and 19 1/2 inches across the center. He additionally used a handheld fish scale to measure the burden.
“[The scale] weighed it at 14 kilos, 12 ounces, which simply blew my thoughts,” Bentz mentioned.
Bentz was on his manner residence when he realized the trout in his cooler is likely to be a brand new Virginia state file, so he pulled off the highway, stopping at Stokesville Market in Mount Solon to test the burden on a licensed scale and have it verified by a DWR worker. The following day, he headed to the DWR workplace in Verona to finish paperwork and get an official fish inspection.
Bentz’s large rainbow outweighed the earlier state file, which was caught by Michael Lowe out of Greer’s Pond in June 1983, by 5 ounces. Lowe’s fish had been caught earlier than new Virginia state record fish rules had been adopted in 1985, which exempted fish caught “inside the boundaries of, or instantly influenced by, a public or personal aquaculture facility.”
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After the fish was inspected, Bentz filleted it and served it for dinner.
“I do know lots of people don’t approve of that, however on this stream, relying on climate circumstances throughout the summer time, the water ranges actually get low, and the water warms up, so the percentages of survival for giant trout are fairly slim,” Bentz mentioned. “I did eat this fish after it was weighed and recorded. There’s this false impression that giant trout don’t style good, however I discover they do. This one had crimson filets that regarded like salmon and tasted nice.”
Bentz additionally plans to have a reproduction of his record-book fish made to hold on his wall.
