Biggest Fish Ever Caught by Andrew Vietze

Author:Andrew Vietze
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2013-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Aggressive feeders and balletic performers once they’re on your line, rainbow trout are prized by fishermen wherever they make an appearance.

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With the record, their reputation spread even farther. So many people began approaching them that it eventually dawned on the Konrads that they could potentially make some money guiding. They set up their own guide service, Fishing Geeks, and began taking clients to their secret fishing hole.

“We guided for three years, and then Sean caught that fish,” says Adam, referring to his brother’s 2009 forty-eight-pounder, which topped Adam’s 2007 fish, becoming the new world record.

“How was that possible? Any of our clients could have caught that fish. The odds of that happening . . .” he trails off.

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Triploids. Triploids. Triploids. After setting their world records, that’s all the Konrads heard about. How their fish were about as legitimate as Barry Bonds’s home-run record or Marion Jones’s gold medals. “That ain’t no real rainbow, it’s a genetically altered freak . . . that said, I’d love to reel that SOB in,” said one online pundit. Tom Cushman of Trout Underground agreed: “New genetically engineered rainbow trout smashes record of old genetically engineered rainbow trout (yawn),” he wrote. Amazon’s “Askville” made the question: “Is the 48 Pound Trout Pulled from Lake Diefenbaker Legitimate or a Hoax?” one of their daily debates, and it spurred much commentary both pro and con. Even Wired magazine weighed in with the headline, “48-Pound Trout: World Record or Genetic Cheat?”

Message boards scrolled on and on ad infinitum: These are not real fish. These are real fish. “Bravo. Good catch. Genetic? Please,” says one. “No one will stand a chance to break the record if genetically altered fish are permitted,” says another. The arguments were long and persuasive on both sides and grew in sophistication. Many felt that what they were doing was a) legal under the rules and b) open to anyone who could catch one that large. Others felt that this was simply not natural and that genetically modified fish had no place in such a traditional sport.

Fisheries biologist Norm Dyck heard fishermen grumbling around Saskatchewan too. “There was a fair bit of talk up here about it being a triploid and therefore it shouldn’t count,” he says. But as an outdoorsman himself, he’s torn. “They have worked at it. They are avid fishermen, and they know what they’re doing. They’ve spent hours and hours and days and days out there.” So, in a way, they’ve earned it. The fish have also been certified by IGFA, “and that’s good enough for me,” says Dyck. “I’ve never caught anything remotely that big.”

On the other hand, Dyck sees certain similarities to his preferred sport. “I’m a deer hunter, and I look at the Internet and see the YouTube videos with deer hunters and their kills. Some of these deer are raised on game farms, and they want to call them world records. I’m sure they’re fed with steroids, and that doesn’t seem legitimate to me at all. But triploid fish.

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