Kim Anderson, 67, is an experienced big lake trout angler, but he’s never caught one quite like the giant laker he landed last month.
The retiree is a dedicated fisherman, so he and his pal Greg Ogden towed Anderson’s 20-foot boat 12 hours north from their homes in Richfield, Utah to fish Payette Lake in west-central Idaho.
Payette is a 5,000-acre glacial lake trout hot spot, with cold, clear water and depths to over 300 feet.
Anderson tells Outdoor Life that he used to be a die-hard muskie angler and has caught plenty of big ones. But his more recent passion is catching lake trout, and he’s landed lots of heavy fish from various waters.
“I’m locked in on catching big lakers, chiefly from Flaming Gorge Reservoir and some other lakes closer to my home,” says Anderson. “Payette Lake is a great spot for big fish, and that’s why we went there. It’s been managed very well for lake trout by state biologists like Jordan Messner.”
Anderson and Ogden had never previously fished Payette and started hunting big lakers there the evening of July 7. They caught four or five trout to 20 pounds before dark. But the next morning they decided to try a different area about one mile away, wanting even bigger fish.
“That next morning we could see good trout on the bottom with sonar,” he says. “We were jigging a 60-foot-deep shelf with deeper water around it.”
The anglers were using 1.5-ounces jigs, when Ogden hooked a heavy fish on bait-casting tackle and 20-pound test fluorocarbon line.
“While he was fighting his fish, I dropped my heavy gray jig deep, and I hooked a good one, too,” Anderson says. “It took me about a minute to get my trout coming to the boat. I said to Greg, ‘you better get that net over here – mine’s big.’”
Ogden swooped the net over toward Anderson as he drew his laker close.
“Greg netted his 25 pounder just as I was landing my big fish, so he netted them both – we had a combined weight of 69 pounds of lake trout in our net at the same time.”
Anderson said his huge laker was so big on top of Greg’s fish in the net, that they couldn’t even see Ogden’s fish under it.
The anglers used a special saddle-style weighing apparatus to check each laker’s weight. Ogden’s was 25 pounds, Anderson’s fish had an immense girth and weighed an eye-popping 44 pounds.
After weighing and measuring, both lakers were released unharmed back into Payette.
Anderson’s fish measured 44 inches from nose to tail. After some constant prodding by Ogden and Anderson’s son Jason, Anderson sent photos and videos of his fish to the Idaho Fish and Game Department, along with an application for a catch-and-release record.
Idaho now has confirmed that Anderson’s 44-inch, 44-pound lake trout is a new certified catch-and-release record.
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Anderson’s fish tops the previous Idaho catch and release record lake trout measuring 43.25-inches caught May 2 by Idaho Falls angler Dylan Smith, which also was caught from Payette Lake.
“We ran into Dylan Smith while in Idaho and I showed him the video of my 44-incher,” says Anderson. “He’s a great guy and a good fisherman, and I’ll bet he’ll break my record, too. That’s okay, because then I can try and break his record laker again.
“That’s what fishing is really all about – having fun.”