New brown trout record

[Phil Lilley]

The ironic thing about it is Bill hardly ever fishes himself. He was out with a friend this morning so he was fishing himself.

[Seth]

18 minutes ago, Phil Lilley said:

The ironic thing about it is Bill hardly ever fishes himself. He was out with a friend this morning so he was fishing himself.

I wonder what the largest trout @Bill Babler has had landed in his boat before today?

[snagged in outlet 3]

24 minutes ago, Phil Lilley said:

The ironic thing about it is Bill hardly ever fishes himself. He was out with a friend this morning so he was fishing himself.

Is it a triploid, @Phil Lilley?

Wow!!!!   On the pink worm of all things....

[Bill Babler]

Thanks Guys.  Couple of things.  You cannot even imagine the care that we gave that fish.  The fight was quick and it was in the livewell pumping everything the AlWeld had and then right into the tank at Lilleys just pouring air on it.  As far as a Triploid Shane would not say until further testing.  It had two clipped fins and was not Frank.  

Measurements were 28 inch girth. and 41 and 1/4 inch length.  40.4 pounds on certified scales.

In speaking to taxidermist Don Frank he said the color of the fish did not appear to be Triploid but he could not be sure either. There are no blocks for fish that size so Don wants to use it and make some along with the skin mount.

Shane is doing research now and has the fish at the hatchery.  He will let us know age and all the data as soon as his studies are done.

I have fished taney since the late 60's and guided full time on it since 1989.  My biggest fish prior came below Powersite Dam fishing for walleye when I caught and released a 16 pound Brown.  My biggest Rainbow to date on Taney is 8 lbs.  My biggest client fish are a 13 lb. Brown and a 8.7 pound Rainbow, but we have caught huge fish all year.

I'll put in a little article after a bit with the story run down.  As they always say, "right place right time, and it is better to be lucky than good."

[196champ]

Way to go Bill!!!

[drew03cmc]

That's huge!

[Terrierman]

Could not happen to a nicer man.  Heartiest congratulations Bill Babler.  Sorry you lost the fish but it's clear you gave it your all. 

[Leitsout]

Congrats Bill, I was down in Branson that Saturday and saw this story on the news.

[moguy1973]

So since this fish was 40.4lbs (40lbs 6.5ish oz) does this make it the largest brown trout ever caught in the US?  I believe the prior record was 40lbs 4oz (40.25lbs) caught down in the Little Red River in 1992.

[Phil Lilley]

No I think there was a bigger brown caught in Michigan.