The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Angler hooks state record trout in Lake Erie
Lots of Ohio anglers have fish tales about the one that got away.
Lorain fisherman James Beres, 47, has a fish tale about the one that got caught and became a state record.
On Dec. 1, Beres hooked the largest lake trout ever recorded in Ohio waters as he and his brother, Mike, were fishing for walleye off Lorain.
The fish weighed 26.63 pounds, surpassing the former record holder lake trout that weighed 20.4 pounds.
“It’s just a neat thing for the area,” Beres said. “A lot of people are asking questions about it. It’s cool.”
The Outdoor Writers of Ohio State Record Fish Committee and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced the new record Dec. 19.
The fish was 38 inches long and 25.5 inches in girth.
In Ohio, fish records are determined by weight, according to the Outdoor Writers of Ohio State Record Fish Committee.
Beres, who works at the Ford Motor Co. Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake, recounted the tale of the titanic trout.
He and his brother were fishing five miles north of Lorain’s Beaver Park Marina.
“It was actually a beautiful day that day,” Beres said.
The brothers were angling for a winner for the Walleye Fall Brawl tournament, hosted by Erie Outfitters of Sheffield Lake.
The contest runs from Oct. 20 to Dec. 3.
At the end of November, the brothers spent 70 hours a week fishing and hoping for part of the purse.
Prizes ranged from $6,000 for fifth place to an $80,000 fishing boat for the largest walleye.
“All it takes is one fish and we were in it,” Beres said.
Beres had a JT Custom Crank Bait trolling off his 23-foot Tidewater boat when the fish took the lure.
Judging from the feel at the other end of the line, Beres said they knew it was a “monster fish.”
The gray flash underwater made it look like a huge walleye, but in the boat, they could tell its mouth was not quite right for that species, Beres said.
They took a picture of the fish and sent it out in hopes of identifying the creature.
The brothers rode in to Lorain’s Hot Waters Municipal Boat Ramp and learned it was a lake trout.
Based on some quick computer searches, Beres said they believed the Ohio record for lake trout was 28 pounds. They put the trout back in their cooler, then went out for more fishing.
But Beres said he had a nagging feeling to double check the record weight, so he called Erie Outfitters to confirm it.
Lake trout live in Lake Erie, but generally in the Eastern Basin, Beres said, so they are seldom caught off Lorain. The Eastern Basin, in the area of Pennsylvania and New York, is the deepest part of Lake Erie.
State experts could tell from its fins that it was a raised fish, not a wild one.