Idaho Fish and Game began documenting catch-and-release records in 2016. That year, 70 records were broken, showcasing the diversity of fishing opportunities all over the Gem State.
Over the years, the number of records has decreased, and the fish have gotten larger. In the past two years, there were seven records broken, but already this year anglers have broken 17 new records in every corner of the state.
WATCH | See some of the record fish and hear from an angler from Georgia—
"A lot of those records were produced in waters where we're actively trying to suppress other species to maintain the amount of prey available to these larger predators or to conserve native species," said Joe Kozfkay, with Idaho Fish and Game.
"It’s a really good sign that we are balancing these suppression efforts and still providing opportunities to grow these trophy fish."
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One of those anglers is Caroline Langdale, an avid hunter and angler from Georgia. She experienced her first fishing adventure in Idaho and broke a record for the largest brown trout at 30.5 inches on the South Fork of the Snake River.
"It doesn’t take a record to make me happy, but it is certainly cool," said Langdale on a Zoom call. "I’m just going to treasure that memory forever."
Langdale braved the cold to go out with the South Fork Lodge and guide Ed Emory. Ed has been guiding since 1990 and has logged more than 72,000 river miles in this epic spot to fish in southeast Idaho.
"When we saw that fish for the first time, he just absolutely lost it and I was in shock; I didn’t know that the South Fork had fish like that," said Langdale. "We fought the fish for around ten minutes."
The record-breaking year started with ice fishing in Henry's Lake and a Yellowstone cutthroat trout; a young angler caught a chiselmouth out of the Salmon River, a record lake trout came out of Payette Lake, and northern Idaho produced a northern pike, a burbot, a cutthroat trout, and a Westslope cutthroat trout.
ALSO READ | Idaho Falls angler catches record 43.25-inch lake trout at Payette Lake
"It has been a pretty remarkable year, and we got a big chunk of the year left so we think we will be in the low 20s," said Kozfkay. "There is a tremendous amount of diversity. We have had hatchery support fish like rainbow trout in Dworshak Reservoir; we had a record there, and we have had arctic grayling stocked in high mountain lakes that produced a record."
Click here to see more on some of these record fish and to learn more about the stories behind these incredible catches.
