“It hit, I felt some weight, nevertheless it dropped the lure”
Smith holds his new state-record fish, the heaviest tiger trout on file in West Virginia. Courtesy of Nathan Smith
Nathan Smith, 16, was financial institution fishing early on Feb. 24 at New Creek Dam Website #14 along with his pal Caleb Burns, 18. The general public lake in Grant County, West Virginia, is deep and clear, and Smith noticed the fish a number of toes underwater at 7:30 a.m.
“I believed it was a brown trout after I forged to it,” Smith tells Out of doors Life. “It hit, I felt some weight, nevertheless it dropped the lure.”
Smith, who was fishing a Gulp 3-inch white-and-gray minnow, rapidly reeled in his lure with spinning sort out and advantageous 4-pound take a look at line. He made one other forged to the trout because it was swimming away from shore. Nevertheless it refused the lure. Smith reeled in a second time then despatched a 3rd forged out to the place the fish was headed.
“I simply felt weight on my line a number of seconds after I made my third forged with the Gulp minnow,” says the home-schooled 10th grader from Burlington. “I set the hook, and the trout didn’t combat a lot for a couple of minutes. It by no means jumped, nevertheless it was robust. It took about six minutes to get it near shore.”
As soon as close to the financial institution his pal Burns tried netting it, however the internet was too small for the trout to simply match into.
![A hybrid tiger trout caught in West Virginia.](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/record-tiger-trout.jpg?w=1104)
“We lastly acquired it within the internet headfirst, and Caleb was capable of get it on shore,” Smith says.
Smith knew it was an enormous trout, however solely thought the tiger trout weighed 5 or 6 kilos. However Burns’ buddy Michael Bibawick was within the space and noticed the fish. Bibawick thought it might be a state file. The kids continued fishing, and Smith caught a pair of 15-inch rainbow trout. Then, contemplating Bibawick’s recommendation, Smith took his catch to the West Virginia DNR workplace in close by Romney.
![The new state-record tiger trout.](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tailgate_tiger_trout.jpg?w=960)
So Smith took his catch to the West Virginia DNR workplace in Romney, the place it was positively recognized as a tiger trout. A biologist taped the fish at 26.75 inches lengthy and weighed it on licensed scales for an official weight of 11.98 kilos. It’s the brand new West Virginia state file tiger trout by weight, beating the outdated file by greater than 1.5 kilos.Smith’s fish is simply shy of the longest tiger trout on file within the state. That fish was caught by Mike Connolly in 2011 from Krodel Lake in Mason County. Connolly’s tiger trout measured 28.7 inches lengthy and weighed 10.65 kilos.
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![The West Virginia state-record tiger trout sits in a blue bucket on a certified scale that reads its official weight.](https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Nathan-Smith-Weight.jpg?w=600)
Tiger trout are a cross between a brown trout and a brook trout. Though this hybridization does happen within the wild, it’s uncommon. Tiger trout are simple to provide, nevertheless, and lots of states embody them with their hatchery rainbows and browns for spring and fall stockings. (West Virginia’s New Creek Dam Website #14 does obtain annual trout stocking from the DNR.)
Wild tigers not often exceed 12 inches, however hatchery tigers are hungry and develop huge rapidly. This makes them extra aggressive than different trout, and their uncommon markings are prized by many anglers. The IGFA world-record tiger trout weighed 27 kilos 6 ounces and was caught ini Washington State by Cathy Clegg in 2022. Tiger trout have worldwide distribution, with IGFA information additionally listed from Australia and the UK.
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Smith plans to have a duplicate mount made by a taxidermist, and received’t let the fish go to waste.
“We filleted the trout, and can eat it quickly.” says Smith, who was out trout fishing when speaking to OL about his file catch.