rainbow

HERE'S THE STORY ABOUT THE ACCLAIMED 43.6 POUND NEW WORLD RECORD RAINBOW TROUT THAT WAS REPORTED ON IN THE REGINA, SASKATOON, CANADA, "THE LEADER POST" ON FRIDAY JUNE 22ND. 2007. THIS FISH SURPASSES ALASKA'S 1970 WORLD RECORD OF 42.3 POUNDS.

Here's the story as printed and the story appeared on Canada's CTV TV recently. Pictures will follow on this website as soon as they are available.

PLEASE NOTE: The International Game Fish Association has not confirmed this fish yet but is expected to be.

Record-breaking trout pulled from Lake Dief

Lana Haight
CanWest News Service

Friday, June 08, 2007

SASKATOON -- Adam Konrad has another fish story to tell.

"It is an ugly one and it is fat. With a 34-inch girth, that's bigger than a human, almost," said the Saskatoon man who landed a 38-1/2-inch long rainbow trout that will put him in the record books, again.

On Tuesday between 6:30 and 7 p.m., Konrad snagged the 43.6-pound rainbow trout at Lake Diefenbaker, topping the previous world record set in 1970 when a boy landed a 42.3-pound rainbow trout in Alaska.

"I've already talked to the world-record coordinator (with the International Game Fish Association) and she's freaking out."

On Tuesday, Konrad was casting from shore with his identical twin brother Sean and a friend. He says there's more to landing a record-breaking fish than being in the right place at the right time.

"The big fish sit and you've got to present the hooks and lures. I call it finesse fishing. People go out and fish in the same spots that I do and they get skunked every time."

When asked how he presents his bait, Konrad laughs.

"I caught him on a spoon, a cyclops spoon, made by Mepps. I can tell you that. I was casting. What's there to know?"

It took about 20 minutes, using a six-pound test line, before the fish tired and Konrad reeled it in.

The Konrads catch and release hundreds of fish, waiting for the big one. Adam estimates in the past two fishing seasons, he and his brother have released back to Lake Diefenbaker more than 200 rainbow trout weighing at least 20 pounds and another dozen that were more than 30 pounds.

The brothers have a history of hauling in big fish. Within three weeks last July, they broke the same provincial record three times with rainbow trout weighing 28.39 pounds, 30 lbs. and 33.3 lbs. In the fall, they beat their own record again, catching one weighing 34.5 lbs.

Are there still bigger fish in the pond?

"I'm not going to go out and say there's a 50 (pound rainbow trout) because last time we said there's a 40 down there and we're going to catch it, people didn't believe us. Rainbow trout are pretty peaked out at 40 (pounds)."

From Outdoors Niagara: For your own newspaper account go to the Leader-Post but be aware, these stories don't always remain for long periods of time on newspaper websites.