Posted on 07/06/2026 7:34:06 PM PDT by Red Badger
I’m seeing this just days before my vacation … I hope this is a sign.
A Georgia angler took a trip to Idaho for some fishing at the iconic South Fork Snake River, putting a target on trout that ultimately led her to a new state record. The angler, Caroline Langdale, had a bit of a battle with the record-breaking brown trout May 30 prior to measuring it and giving it the good ol’ fashioned “catch and release” treatment.
Catch and release and certified weight are the two state fishing records maintained by Idaho. This particular landing is in the catch and release category as the fish was put back into the river after being measured. (RELATED: Florida: 1 Woman Dead After 3 Alligator Interactions Get Violent In Span Of Week)
“I never dreamed when I started my day of fishing with Ed Emory of South Fork Lodge that God was going to bless me with a fish of a lifetime,” Langdale told Idaho Fish and Game.
Check out this bad boy:
As I’ve already mentioned, I’m just days away from a two-week vacation in South Florida, and most of my fishing will be done in the canals. With this being the case, here is my target list going into things:
Common Snook
Mangrove Snapper
Sheepshead
Largemouth Bass
Butterfly Peacock Bass
Peacock Cichlid
Tarpon
Redfish
Spotted Seatrout
Bluegill
Tilapia
With how much preparation I’ve put into this trip, quite frankly, I better catch all of them … and I’ve got a lot of confidence that I can do it.
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Yikes!
What a monster...
In Washington, we have Steelhead, which are genetically exactly Rainbow Trout that are anadramous (they go out to sea like Salmon).
I caught a 38 incher that was quite deep. Just short of 20 pounds.
On a fly …
… and released it.
I’ve heard that. We were supposed to have walleye in a lake not far from me. I worked with a guy that did walleye fishing tournaments in Montana. Him and I fished our arses off in that lake. Never caught one, never seen one, yet we’d meet a guy who had a neighbor, whose cousin’s uncle caught 5. You ever had someone tell you “damn you should have been here yesterday, they were practically jumping in the boat” 🙄.
How big was the fly??????...............
,,, it is. Why would anyone put a fish through that stress and hell just to release it. Like shooting - if you have no intention of eating it, leave it alone.
I’m with you.
1: catch the illegal criminal.
2: shoot the criminal.
3: Release the criminal
The hook:
A Popsicle type maribou fly:
Alec Jackson was a friend of mine. He sold to me in bulk (hundreds) at a deep discount.
When you’re fishing for up to 20 pound fish that can rip you up, you need stout hooks. There is a trade off between bendiness and brittleness that you have to get exactly right. Alec had custom steel wire made for him to hit the sweet spot between those two problems. I never bent or broke one of his hooks on steelhead except one size 7 once. Still caught the fish.
Alec had the wire hand manufactured by Japanese ladies in their living rooms by the piece, back in the day. The exact shape of the hook (see pic above) is critical. If you BREAK off the barb, it leaves a tiny nubbins of a barb left behind, which is all you need. Virtually the only way that hook is coming out is by hand. I caught over 100 steelhead on Alex’s hooks and lost maybe 5, tops. But the hook backs out just fine without blood every time, but by hand.
Average steelhead up here in the PNW is maybe 7 pounds. I was banging 24 a year in my heyday back in the late ‘90s.
There’s a lake in southern Montana called Clark Canyon Resivoir. It has huge Rainbow Trout. The only thing we could get them to hit was black and silver streamers trolled about a foot or two deep moderately slow. Ice fishing and summer bank fishing all we caught was Ling Cod. Steelhead seem to like gaudy stuff. I never got the hang of it but a couple friends were pretty good at it up on the North Fork of the Salmon River.
Brown trouts taste like mud. Especially the big ones. Where I go fishing catching 24 inchers is common.
I wish you good weather and good luck on your fishing. I spent a day on the flats with a guide in Florida. Caught 2 decent snook.
We spotted a tarpon, I suppose he was 6-foot or so. IIRC (this was 35+ years ago) I made one bad cast, and then made a good one that dragged the lure (a rubber tube thing I think?) right in front of him.
I’m used to fishing for bass and was anticipating a big strike.
Tap. Tap. “Oh right!” I set the hook. 1 second too late as I recalled the guide saying how a tarpon eats. Not blaming him, but I wish he had reminded me when we saw the tarpon, rather than just telling me at the start of the trip.
I liked the flats fishing, sort of a cross between fishing and hunting.
I don’t care for any of the trout, unless they are hurt the go back in the water. Otherwise my wife likes them. Closed barbs and gently handling them usually means I come home skunked.
Anyhow, I fished with all these guys when they were 60 something and I was 30 something. I’m guessing that would be Alec’s semi famous Bogdan reel in the pic.
I don’t fish anymore & haven’t for years, but that’s well beyond the biggest trout I ever heard of.
80 YTO life-long meat hunter/fisher here:
To me, intentionally fishing catch & release is animal abuse, similar to deer hunting with paintballs or some such.
If you don’t intend to eat them, don’t go harass them just for “sport” self gratification.
Everyone has an opinion about that.
Are you in the Applegate out past Jacksonville?
Lived on Old Military Road for 4 years, first leg up from the South …
Old joke told by Zig Ziglar.
A very pious and religious man who never swore went out on his boat to fish with his decidedly less religious pal.
After a few disappointing attempts to catch anything the religious fisherman felt a heavy tug. He worked and finally pulled into the bright sunshine the biggest and most beautiful fish of his life.
As his friend held the bucket under it, the man maneuvered the line and the fish suddenly squirmed and hit the rim of the bucket and then splashed into the water, lost.
Red faced but silent and clenching his fists, the religious man said to his silent friend: “Shouldn’t ONE OF US be saying something right now?”
Used to be; Little Applegate/Grouse Creek Road.
Left 25 years ago, and kept the name: Every gate of this old homesteaded ranch property has apple trees by them.
Opa, the king of all fish.
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