MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A South Burlington fisherman caught a record 19.36-pound (8.78-kilogram) lake trout in Lake Champlain this summer, according to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.
The department said this week that it had recently certified the record fish entry. Jeffery Sanford caught the 36.5-inch (92.7-centimeter) fish in over 100 feet of water in August, the department said.
The size and health of the fish is a result of good lake trout habitat and ongoing efforts to control sea lamprey, which prey on lake trout, landlocked Atlantic salmon, brown trout, steelhead, walleye, lake sturgeon and other fish species, said Shawn Good, the department’s fisheries biologist who oversees the Vermont State Record Fish Program.
“Jeff’s fish is the largest lake trout from Lake Champlain entered in the Record Fish Program since the department started keeping fish records in 1969,” said Good in a written statement. “There have been much larger lake trout caught in other Vermont waters, but this Champlain fish is a big deal.”
Sanford said he wanted to release the fish but was unable to revive it so brought it to be weighed as part of the Lake Champlain International’s Basin Derby, where it now is in first place for the derby’s lake trout category, the department said.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)