---
title: "Minnesota Just Confirmed This Lake Trout as a New State Record"
description: "Isaiah Bartlett was fishing with a Lake Superior guide who specializes in jigging for lake trout when he hooked the new catch-and-release record."
date: "2025-04-30"
modified: "2025-04-30"
authors:
  - name: "Natalie Krebs"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/authors/natalie-krebs/"
url: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/minnesota-lake-trout-record/"
categories:
  - "Fishing"
  - "Freshwater"
  - "Record Fish"
tags:
  - "News"
---

# Minnesota Just Confirmed This Lake Trout as a New State Record

![Man holds up a record lake trout in Minnesota](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Isaiah-with-record-lake-trout.jpg>)
*Bartlett holds up the big laker he caught on March 12. Photo courtesy Ethan Waytashek / Lake Superior Jigging Guide Service*

The Minnesota Department of Fish and Widllife officially confirmed the state’s newest laker record on Monday. The 43.25-inch lake trout caught by Isaiah Bartlett in March surpassed the state’s existing catch-and-release record, which is measured by length, by just ¾ inch.

Bartlett, who hails from Culver, Minnesota, was fishing Lake Superior with charter captain Ethan Waytashek on March 12. At the time, Bartlett had never caught a laker before. Conditions were slow that day, but Waytashek eventually got him on fish.

“All I do is fish jigs for lakers,” the 26-year-old [Lake Superior Jigging](<https://www.facebook.com/JigSuperior?ref=embed_post>) guide told *Outdoor Life* [last month](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/minnesota-catch-release-lake-trout-record/>). “No trolling, just jigging, and only for lake trout.”

That afternoon Bartlett was jigging a drop off in 165-feet of water when a big fish hit his jig. After 10 minutes, Bartlett maneuvered the trout close enough for Waytashek to net it. He knew immediately it was a state record, and followed the proper protocol.

![Measuring the pending new record lake trout](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Trout-on-measuring-board.jpg>)
*Photo courtesy Ethan Waytashek*

“I laid Isaiah’s fish on my boat measuring fish board and it was 43.25-inches long. I knew it topped the current catch-and-release laker record, because the woman who caught it fished with me last year on Superior. Kelsey Vanderheyden’s record fish measured 42.50 inches and is the current record for Minnesota.”

**Read Next**: ​​[The Unwinnable Battle Over Forward-Facing Sonar](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/opinion/unwinnable-battle-over-forward-facing-sonar/>)

Predictably, the guide and his client have been criticized on social media for using [forward-facing sonar](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/gear/best-fish-finder/>), but there are no regulations in Minnesota that prevent its use in [its fishing record program](<https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/staterecords.html>).

## Author
Natalie Krebs is the Executive Editor of *Outdoor Life*, where she tackles everything from reporting digital features to producing podcast episodes. Originally from Missouri, she currently lives in northwest Arkansas with her bird dog, Hatchet.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://instagram.com/krebfish>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliekrebs/>)