Fisherman breaks state record with monster 37-pound lake trout [NH]

CNN ^ | By Alicia Lee, CNN Updated 8:43 PM ET, Sun March 1, 2020

[Red Badger]

Thomas Knight with the enormous lake trout that broke New Hampshire's 62-year-old state record for the largest lake trout.

(CNN)When Thomas Knight set out on the ice to go fishing for lake trout, he was determined to haul in a big one. He came prepared with an 11-inch sucker because big bait attracts big fish, he said. But what he reeled in was bigger than anything he could have imagined. Knight, of Meredith, New Hampshire, caught a lake trout last Tuesday that weighed in at 37.65 pounds, easily breaking the state record that was more than 60 years old. The previous record was 28 pounds set in 1958. Usually, records are broken by a couple ounces, but Knight's fish shattered the record by more than nine pounds.

And before he even reeled it in, he knew it was going to be massive. "The line was so tight, it got so thin and the adrenaline was full blown," Knight told CNN. "You just do everything you can to not break the line and you try to tire the fish out." Thomas Knight, right, holds his 37.65 pound lake trout.

[dirtymac]

He was ice fishing! If you are going to troll fish during the winter in New Hampshire you need a snow mobile not a boat. :)

[dirtymac]

Maybe Squam Lake

[nicollo]

Haven’t caught a trout in our lake in central Maine for years, the bass took over long ago. When my grandfather fished that lake, it was for trout, not bass.

My favorite for eating from the lake is always white perch. Sadly, their population is down severely, too, probably from the pike that have invaded (standing rule: catch and kill).