BOISE, Idaho — Aaron Goettsche is an avid angler that calls Flaming Gorge his home lake, but for the past three years, he has traveled to Idaho to visit family and fish at Payette Lake.
Goettsche and his family pulled several huge lake trout out of the depths at Payette Lake, including an Idaho state record.
"I’m honored to have the record, it is by length of 42 inches and the poundage for Idaho is pretty big," said Goettsche. "It is like pulling a farm animal out of the water."
Check out the video to see some of the lake trout being pulled out of Payette Lake
Around a decade ago, Idaho Fish and Game noticed a decline in the kokanee population, which is the primary food source for lake trout.
"There was a decision to be made about what the future of the fishery would look like," said Joe Kozfkay, the state fisheries manager. "The options were either manage for lake trout, which would be harmful to the Kokanee population, or to try and bring the system more in balance."
Idaho Fish and Game decided to stock more kokanee in Payette Lake while also removing and killing around 3,000 lake trout, all under 27 inches. It was a controversial move at the time, but now Kozfkay says the kokanee fishery is strong and anglers are also pulling trophy fish out of the lake.
"It's a great thing, anglers are happy on both sides," said Kozfkay, who told me he caught several kokanee up there this week. "The trophy lake trout anglers are calling our regional office and thanking us and we are producing a lot of kokanee fishing and harvest while collecting kokanee eggs to fill our hatcheries."
Goettsche owns his own company called Mama Hog Fishing Rods. He designed these rods to bend, but not break while trolling on a lake and pulling up huge fish from the depths below. Goettsche told us he likes the strategy implemented by Idaho Fish and Game.
"The proof is in the pudding," said Goettsche. "The Kokanee are large, the lake trout are very big and I think the lake biologist is doing a good job with his balancing act."
Goettsche told us Payette Lake is not the easiest place to fish because of how popular it is for boating. However, someone might break his record because he put his fish back in the lake as he believes anglers can help out by practicing catch and release.
"They don’t need to be killed and those big fish don't taste very good," said Goettsche. "If you land something like that they shouldn’t be killed because they get caught over and over again."
