Would Be-World Record Lake Trout Caught Illegally
This potential world record lake trout was caught illegally it appears and will not see the record books
We reported last month about a giant world record lake trout caught in Northern Minnesota, but it may not be as good as the story sounded. A Minnesota man that had caught a giant lake trout on Lac la Croix last month may be in some serious trouble. The angler, Rob Scott, caught a 52 pound 3 ounce monster fish that he hauled in on the lake that borders Minnesota and Canada, but may have lied about where he caught the fish. After fighting the fish for an hour, Scott took his trophy to a taxidermist in Duluth, MN to be weighed and measured where it was determined big enough for a possible world record, however, he may have exceeded his limit for the day already.
Scotts’ fish got a lot of attention in the news and with anglers in that area. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in Aitkokan, Ontario saw some of these articles and recognized Scott from checking him earlier in the day on February 8th when he caught his fish. When they checked him, he was in Canadian waters and had already landed a 4 pound trout. The limit for lake trout in Canada is one per day. When he was questioned by the officers, Scott admitted that he had caught the massive trout after officers had checked him that day and then hauled the fish back over into U.S. waters, only 100 feet away.
Scott’s reasoning was that he was so high on adrenaline and that the fish would have died anyway after an hour fight so he didn’t want to waste it. Scott is extremely sorry about what he did and has called the Ontario authorities to apologize. I can honestly sympathize with him. He gave away the smaller trout and knew the large record would die, so he didn’t waste it. Unfortunately, the record books don’t work that way and the fish will be taken back by the Ontario authorities.
That giant lake trout will never see the record books, but hopefully there will be another caught soon. Check out this giant lake trout caught through the ice.
