02-03-2005, 03:26 AM
Beulah man catches record brown trout
By RICHARD HINTON, Bismarck Tribune
A Beulah angler landed a brown trout weighing almost 32 pounds that not only shattered the state record, but is the largest salmonid ever caught in North Dakota.
Tim Johansen was using a jig and minnow with 4-pound test line at the Garrison Dam Tailrace on Tuesday morning when he hooked up with the 31-pound, 11-ounce fish that measured 35.5 inches in length.
"It was a pretty good struggle," Johansen said after he got home late Tuesday afternoon. "Even though we were in fast water, it came by the boat close enough to get a net on it. [url "http://oas.lee.net/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/bismarcktribune.com/news/local/10.48048545533601933/2113321507/Middle2/TBT2admin/Waterford-03042003/newad.gif/64313365653065303432303139386630"][/url][url "http://oas.lee.net/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/bismarcktribune.com/news/local/Middle2/1@Right,Middle1,Middle2,TopLeft,TopRight,BottomLeft,BottomRight,x05,x06!Middle2"]![[Image: 1@Right,Middle1,Middle2,TopLeft,TopRight...06!Middle2]](http://oas.lee.net/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/bismarcktribune.com/news/local/Middle2/1@Right,Middle1,Middle2,TopLeft,TopRight,BottomLeft,BottomRight,x05,x06!Middle2)
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"It only look about 15 minutes."
He said he wasn't fishing for browns but had the right-sized net because he had caught browns there previously.
"It's not like I didn't know it was possible," he said.
Jeff Hendrickson, central district fisheries supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, verified the catch, which also was bigger than the largest chinook salmon in the state record book.
Hendrickson met Johansen at Scott's Bait and Tackle in Pick City, but "the scale at Scott's only goes to 30 pounds," Hendrickson said Tuesday afternoon. They finally weighed the trout at the Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery.
The fish attracted crowds at both weighing spots, Hendrickson said. Johansen also was drawing a throng of neighbors to his house as he stood outside speaking on the phone.
"I was pretty excited," Johansen said. "It was a dandy."
He will have it mounted and put on display, most likely at Scheels All Sports in Bismarck, he said.
Catching a record trout didn't quiet Johansen's fishing enthusiasm. He left the fish with Hendrickson for the paperwork and returned to his fishing spot at the Tailrace for another go, picking up the fish before heading home.
Catching the fish on a 4-pound test line also could set a line class record, Hendrickson said.
The old state record for brown trout was 25 pounds, 4 ounces, by Wade Weitz, of Anamoose, in 1987.
The state chinook salmon record is 31 pounds, 2 ounces, caught in 1986 by Tom Schwartz, also of Beulah.
"That's a lot of fish," Hendrickson said of Johansen's catch. "It's not every day that you catch one of them."
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By RICHARD HINTON, Bismarck Tribune
A Beulah angler landed a brown trout weighing almost 32 pounds that not only shattered the state record, but is the largest salmonid ever caught in North Dakota.
Tim Johansen was using a jig and minnow with 4-pound test line at the Garrison Dam Tailrace on Tuesday morning when he hooked up with the 31-pound, 11-ounce fish that measured 35.5 inches in length.
"It was a pretty good struggle," Johansen said after he got home late Tuesday afternoon. "Even though we were in fast water, it came by the boat close enough to get a net on it. [url "http://oas.lee.net/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/bismarcktribune.com/news/local/10.48048545533601933/2113321507/Middle2/TBT2admin/Waterford-03042003/newad.gif/64313365653065303432303139386630"][/url][url "http://oas.lee.net/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/bismarcktribune.com/news/local/Middle2/1@Right,Middle1,Middle2,TopLeft,TopRight,BottomLeft,BottomRight,x05,x06!Middle2"]
"It only look about 15 minutes."
He said he wasn't fishing for browns but had the right-sized net because he had caught browns there previously.
"It's not like I didn't know it was possible," he said.
Jeff Hendrickson, central district fisheries supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, verified the catch, which also was bigger than the largest chinook salmon in the state record book.
Hendrickson met Johansen at Scott's Bait and Tackle in Pick City, but "the scale at Scott's only goes to 30 pounds," Hendrickson said Tuesday afternoon. They finally weighed the trout at the Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery.
The fish attracted crowds at both weighing spots, Hendrickson said. Johansen also was drawing a throng of neighbors to his house as he stood outside speaking on the phone.
"I was pretty excited," Johansen said. "It was a dandy."
He will have it mounted and put on display, most likely at Scheels All Sports in Bismarck, he said.
Catching a record trout didn't quiet Johansen's fishing enthusiasm. He left the fish with Hendrickson for the paperwork and returned to his fishing spot at the Tailrace for another go, picking up the fish before heading home.
Catching the fish on a 4-pound test line also could set a line class record, Hendrickson said.
The old state record for brown trout was 25 pounds, 4 ounces, by Wade Weitz, of Anamoose, in 1987.
The state chinook salmon record is 31 pounds, 2 ounces, caught in 1986 by Tom Schwartz, also of Beulah.
"That's a lot of fish," Hendrickson said of Johansen's catch. "It's not every day that you catch one of them."
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