HENRYS LAKE, Idaho — Not many anglers go out fishing with the hope of breaking a state record.
Robert Gregory, however, had his hook set on greatness this past New Year's Eve.
“My college buddies and I got up early, went ice fishing at Henry's Lake with a goal of catching a state record cutthroat trout, if possible,” Gregory told Idaho Fish & Game.
What started as a fairly productive morning of fishing on Dec. 31 changed completely when Gregory decided to fish shallower waters.
Once he'd switched tactics, Gregory hooked and landed a 19-inch 3.08-pound Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout, the new state record for the species.
"Yellowstone cutthroat trout aren’t your run-of-the-mill trout. They are one of Idaho’s three native subspecies of cutthroat trout and are found almost exclusively in the Snake River basin above Shoshone Falls and in the Yellowstone River basin. That means anglers can only find them in southern and eastern Idaho, parts of Wyoming and Montana, and tiny bits of Nevada and Utah." - Idaho Fish & Game
After weighing the record-breaking trout at home, he took the catch to a certified scale at a local grocery store, where the record was confirmed.
What makes the catch so special is that Henrys Lake is one of the only places an angler can legally harvest Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout.
Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout are also one of only three native subspecies of Trout that call Idaho home, making the record catch even more spectacular.
You can find Idaho Fish & Game records here: Records for fish caught in Idaho
