It has been a long time since I've seen a fish with a bigger belly than me--a long time. To bad it was a trout.
Come to think of it, I caught that fish in the Rideau Canal last year at the kid's derby and thought it was a carp so I let it go--Dam it, I should have stayed in school--they were right.
BIG JIM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~hey Float I need help to catch a trout over 41 lbs. Call me on the Carp phone.
A New Record Rainbow?
Re: record trout
He beat u to it.....he's gone on his 9 days trip. I'm sure he will have a few stories tooBig Jim wrote:It has been a long time since I've seen a fish with a bigger belly than me--a long time. To bad it was a trout.
Come to think of it, I caught that fish in the Rideau Canal last year at the kid's derby and thought it was a carp so I let it go--Dam it, I should have stayed in school--they were right.
BIG JIM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~hey Float I need help to catch a trout over 41 lbs. Call me on the Carp phone.
Incredible trout!
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fishforfun
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TroutSlayer
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New Record Rainbow
Here's the article, with credit due.
From the "Manitoulin Expositor".
Island waters yield record rainbow trout
by Jim Moodie
LITTLE CURRENT-Now this was a keeper. Anglers Bruce and Joanne Vendramin, of Sudbury, knew they'd hooked onto something special last Wednesday afternoon while downrigging with six-pound test line and a 300 AC Shiner lure near Fisher Harbour. "It was quite heavy," said Mr. Vendramin. "We played it for about 10 minutes, and finally it got tired and floated to the surface."
That's when the couple realized that their catch wasn't just special, it was spectacular: a mammoth rainbow trout of apparent record-shattering proportions. If they could just get it in the boat.
"We picked it up in the net, and it broke right through the bottom," said Ms. Vendramin. Fortunately, at that point the couple had the net positioned over the boat, so the behemoth "just slipped through to the front of the boat," she said.
The two weighed the fish on a digital scale, and were shocked at the result: the beast, according to their unit, weighed between 39 and 40 pounds. And it was long enough that when they went to stash it in their three-foot cooler, the fish didn't fit lengthwise-its nose and tail fin were pressed up against the sides.
Mr. Vendramin was aware that the Ontario record for largest rainbow trout was in the 29-pound range (29.12 pounds, to be exact), so he knew that, even if the scale in their boat was a hair off, the two had a provincial record-breaker on their hands, by a 10-pound margin no less.
In order to submit a catch to the Ontario Fish Registry, however, an angler is required to have the weight of the fish independently verified by an official agency. So the Vendramins winched their boat onto its trailer, stuffed the (40-pounds-heavier) cooler in the back of their car, and zipped off to-where else?-the post office in Little Current.
They hadn't been there long before news of the catch began circulating up and down the main drag. A police officer tipped off the Expositor, then rounded up a couple of skeptical colleagues so that they could see the creature with their own eyes.
By the time the Expositor arrived on the scene, the Vendramins still had their lunker in the back of their vehicle. Mr. Vendramin was in the post office, finding out if it was okay to weigh the fish on one of the Canada Post scales, while Ms. Vendramin remained outside, presumably guarding the goods.
She happily cracked open the cooler, however, to show off the impossibly-big fish to the inquisitive reporter, who still hadn't quite gotten over his chance meeting with a famous pig the previous week. But this was even more unusual. "Wow," he said.
Mr. Vendramin emerged from the post office with his thumbs up. Apparently the post office staff didn't mind pushing aside a few parcels in the interest of verifying a record catch. The Vendramins grabbed an end of the cooler each, and lugged it across the sidewalk, with the reporter happily tagging along and holding the doors open for them. How often did one get to witness a massive fish being weighed in a post office?
Postmistress Kirt McIvor had already checked with her superiors to make sure that fish-weighing didn't breach post office protocol, but she checked with them again about the appropriateness of having a reporter present, and word came back that the press would be permitted to document the unusual event.
So it was off to the scales, with the Vendramins still toting their heavy cooler, Ms. McIvor guiding them to the appropriate table in the back, and the reporter gleefully testing the flash on his camera. A few other post office employees gathered around, curious to see what was going to come out of the rectangular box.
Mr. Vendramin lifted the lid, and Ms. McIvor took a step back. "Jaws!" she exclaimed.
A clear plastic garbage bag was produced, in order to protect the post office equipment from various fish excretions, and the Vendramins swung their slimy monster over to the scale in a sagging, hammock-like sling.
The fish comically overhung the scale by several feet, and it was difficult to get a clear reading, since the Vendramins had to hold the ends of the fish up off the table. A solution was found in placing the fish in a plastic box (a 'lettertainer,' in post office speak), and then subtracting its weight, as well as the weight of the plastic bag (every ounce counts, you know), from the result.
All present anxiously awaited the final calculation, which was (brace yourself): 40.68 pounds. More than 10 pounds heavier than the Ontario record. And-unbeknownst to the Vendramins at the time-more than five pounds heavier than the Canadian record for rainbow trout.
In other words, presuming the appropriate registries accept the results, this fish, caught in nearby waters, is the largest rainbow ever known to have been hauled ashore in Canada.
Its length, according to a measuring tape provided by the post office, was a stunning 39 inches, although the Vendramins had already figured as much from having the fish outstretch their 36-inch cooler.
But it is weight, not length, that is the determining factor in a record catch. And if the post office-verified weight stands up, the Vendramins will certainly own the Canadian record for rainbows. The existing record is for a 35.12-pound rainbow that was caught in BC waters in 1976.
As for a world record, that still belongs to a heftier cousin, a 42-pounder caught in Alaska in 1970.
But local fisheries experts are still amazed at the heft of the Vendramins' catch, to the point that Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) personnel intercepted the anglers as they passed through Espanola on their way home on Wednesday, and 'seized' the specimen in order to study it.
Ms. Vendramin explained that, while the couple was stalled in construction near Whitefish Falls, "a ministry truck and boat were a couple of vehicles ahead of us, so Bruce went to talk to them and told them if they wanted to see the fish to pull over and we'd stop and show them."
Brendan O'Farrell, a fisheries research technician with the MNR specializing in salmon and steelhead, heard about the unusual catch through his colleagues, and met the Vendramins at the Espanola mall to check it out himself. "I quite honestly didn't believe it when I first heard what they were saying," Mr. O'Farrell noted.
When he set his eyes on the massive trout, he did a doubletake because of the size, but there was no question in his mind that it was a rainbow. "I see thousands of rainbows a year, and it's definitely a rainbow," he said.
The MNR is currently analyzing the fish, and Mr. O'Farrell said they will have a good estimate of its age based on scale samples that will be available this week. The fisheries specialist said, however, that the most accurate indication of age comes from studying calcium deposits in the brain, and an autopsy won't be done for a couple of weeks.
Asked whether it was unusual for a Lake Huron rainbow to approach the size of an Alaskan world record holder, Mr. O'Farrell said, "It would stand to reason that the bigger the pond, the bigger the fish. But there are so many environmental factors that can determine growth, including the warmth of the water, which can result in more food availability."
It's certainly the largest rainbow Mr. O'Farrell has ever seen. "In the Great Lakes, a typical size for a rainbow is between six and eight pounds," he said. "Ten to 14 pounds is common, but anything over that is really uncommon."
As to whether the fish is wild or an escapee from an acquaculture operation, Mr. O'Farrell said "there is absolutely no positive way of telling without doing serious genetic DNA work. Samples have been sent out, but we won't know for a couple of months."
If the fish does turn out to be a domestic farmed fish, "it won't affect whether it's a record," he noted, adding that "there are domestic genetics in all wild fish, because fish have been raised in hatcheries and placed in Lake Huron for decades."
The MNR will continue to study the Vendramins' rainbow. "The owner may or may not receive it back," said Mr. O'Farrell. "It may be that they receive an acrylic mount, and the rest will go to science."
From the "Manitoulin Expositor".
Island waters yield record rainbow trout
by Jim Moodie
LITTLE CURRENT-Now this was a keeper. Anglers Bruce and Joanne Vendramin, of Sudbury, knew they'd hooked onto something special last Wednesday afternoon while downrigging with six-pound test line and a 300 AC Shiner lure near Fisher Harbour. "It was quite heavy," said Mr. Vendramin. "We played it for about 10 minutes, and finally it got tired and floated to the surface."
That's when the couple realized that their catch wasn't just special, it was spectacular: a mammoth rainbow trout of apparent record-shattering proportions. If they could just get it in the boat.
"We picked it up in the net, and it broke right through the bottom," said Ms. Vendramin. Fortunately, at that point the couple had the net positioned over the boat, so the behemoth "just slipped through to the front of the boat," she said.
The two weighed the fish on a digital scale, and were shocked at the result: the beast, according to their unit, weighed between 39 and 40 pounds. And it was long enough that when they went to stash it in their three-foot cooler, the fish didn't fit lengthwise-its nose and tail fin were pressed up against the sides.
Mr. Vendramin was aware that the Ontario record for largest rainbow trout was in the 29-pound range (29.12 pounds, to be exact), so he knew that, even if the scale in their boat was a hair off, the two had a provincial record-breaker on their hands, by a 10-pound margin no less.
In order to submit a catch to the Ontario Fish Registry, however, an angler is required to have the weight of the fish independently verified by an official agency. So the Vendramins winched their boat onto its trailer, stuffed the (40-pounds-heavier) cooler in the back of their car, and zipped off to-where else?-the post office in Little Current.
They hadn't been there long before news of the catch began circulating up and down the main drag. A police officer tipped off the Expositor, then rounded up a couple of skeptical colleagues so that they could see the creature with their own eyes.
By the time the Expositor arrived on the scene, the Vendramins still had their lunker in the back of their vehicle. Mr. Vendramin was in the post office, finding out if it was okay to weigh the fish on one of the Canada Post scales, while Ms. Vendramin remained outside, presumably guarding the goods.
She happily cracked open the cooler, however, to show off the impossibly-big fish to the inquisitive reporter, who still hadn't quite gotten over his chance meeting with a famous pig the previous week. But this was even more unusual. "Wow," he said.
Mr. Vendramin emerged from the post office with his thumbs up. Apparently the post office staff didn't mind pushing aside a few parcels in the interest of verifying a record catch. The Vendramins grabbed an end of the cooler each, and lugged it across the sidewalk, with the reporter happily tagging along and holding the doors open for them. How often did one get to witness a massive fish being weighed in a post office?
Postmistress Kirt McIvor had already checked with her superiors to make sure that fish-weighing didn't breach post office protocol, but she checked with them again about the appropriateness of having a reporter present, and word came back that the press would be permitted to document the unusual event.
So it was off to the scales, with the Vendramins still toting their heavy cooler, Ms. McIvor guiding them to the appropriate table in the back, and the reporter gleefully testing the flash on his camera. A few other post office employees gathered around, curious to see what was going to come out of the rectangular box.
Mr. Vendramin lifted the lid, and Ms. McIvor took a step back. "Jaws!" she exclaimed.
A clear plastic garbage bag was produced, in order to protect the post office equipment from various fish excretions, and the Vendramins swung their slimy monster over to the scale in a sagging, hammock-like sling.
The fish comically overhung the scale by several feet, and it was difficult to get a clear reading, since the Vendramins had to hold the ends of the fish up off the table. A solution was found in placing the fish in a plastic box (a 'lettertainer,' in post office speak), and then subtracting its weight, as well as the weight of the plastic bag (every ounce counts, you know), from the result.
All present anxiously awaited the final calculation, which was (brace yourself): 40.68 pounds. More than 10 pounds heavier than the Ontario record. And-unbeknownst to the Vendramins at the time-more than five pounds heavier than the Canadian record for rainbow trout.
In other words, presuming the appropriate registries accept the results, this fish, caught in nearby waters, is the largest rainbow ever known to have been hauled ashore in Canada.
Its length, according to a measuring tape provided by the post office, was a stunning 39 inches, although the Vendramins had already figured as much from having the fish outstretch their 36-inch cooler.
But it is weight, not length, that is the determining factor in a record catch. And if the post office-verified weight stands up, the Vendramins will certainly own the Canadian record for rainbows. The existing record is for a 35.12-pound rainbow that was caught in BC waters in 1976.
As for a world record, that still belongs to a heftier cousin, a 42-pounder caught in Alaska in 1970.
But local fisheries experts are still amazed at the heft of the Vendramins' catch, to the point that Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) personnel intercepted the anglers as they passed through Espanola on their way home on Wednesday, and 'seized' the specimen in order to study it.
Ms. Vendramin explained that, while the couple was stalled in construction near Whitefish Falls, "a ministry truck and boat were a couple of vehicles ahead of us, so Bruce went to talk to them and told them if they wanted to see the fish to pull over and we'd stop and show them."
Brendan O'Farrell, a fisheries research technician with the MNR specializing in salmon and steelhead, heard about the unusual catch through his colleagues, and met the Vendramins at the Espanola mall to check it out himself. "I quite honestly didn't believe it when I first heard what they were saying," Mr. O'Farrell noted.
When he set his eyes on the massive trout, he did a doubletake because of the size, but there was no question in his mind that it was a rainbow. "I see thousands of rainbows a year, and it's definitely a rainbow," he said.
The MNR is currently analyzing the fish, and Mr. O'Farrell said they will have a good estimate of its age based on scale samples that will be available this week. The fisheries specialist said, however, that the most accurate indication of age comes from studying calcium deposits in the brain, and an autopsy won't be done for a couple of weeks.
Asked whether it was unusual for a Lake Huron rainbow to approach the size of an Alaskan world record holder, Mr. O'Farrell said, "It would stand to reason that the bigger the pond, the bigger the fish. But there are so many environmental factors that can determine growth, including the warmth of the water, which can result in more food availability."
It's certainly the largest rainbow Mr. O'Farrell has ever seen. "In the Great Lakes, a typical size for a rainbow is between six and eight pounds," he said. "Ten to 14 pounds is common, but anything over that is really uncommon."
As to whether the fish is wild or an escapee from an acquaculture operation, Mr. O'Farrell said "there is absolutely no positive way of telling without doing serious genetic DNA work. Samples have been sent out, but we won't know for a couple of months."
If the fish does turn out to be a domestic farmed fish, "it won't affect whether it's a record," he noted, adding that "there are domestic genetics in all wild fish, because fish have been raised in hatcheries and placed in Lake Huron for decades."
The MNR will continue to study the Vendramins' rainbow. "The owner may or may not receive it back," said Mr. O'Farrell. "It may be that they receive an acrylic mount, and the rest will go to science."
Cheers,
TS
TS
I'll save them the trouble and predict the results of the study in advance...the fish is old....really, really really old. 
And it will look real pretty in some MNR office or museum. Much better than on the anlger's wall. I'm sure MNR will give the anglers who caught it a discount on admission so they can come look at their fish anytime they want...
And it will look real pretty in some MNR office or museum. Much better than on the anlger's wall. I'm sure MNR will give the anglers who caught it a discount on admission so they can come look at their fish anytime they want...
There are few problems in life which can not be solved with a well-placed, high-explosive projectile.
Markus wrote:Saskie, I think this is a very true story. I also think that once the MNR scientists are done examining it, their findings will be interesting and benificial.
besides, you likely wouldn't want to eat it.
Hope they get a free acrylic mount out of it..and that it is done by someone who knows what they are doing.
Actually, I bet the fish isn't that old at all - maybe 8 years?
The fish is probably a sterile domestic (aquaculture) type "croker" - they grow fast.
5 or 6 years ago I caught a bunch in a couple of lake Ont tribs (not nearly that size) - they were fat, non-chromers that flopped around without much fuss before being netted.
The fish is probably a sterile domestic (aquaculture) type "croker" - they grow fast.
5 or 6 years ago I caught a bunch in a couple of lake Ont tribs (not nearly that size) - they were fat, non-chromers that flopped around without much fuss before being netted.
I agree Mark that a lot can and will be learned by this fish....but if it was mine( Iwould love catch any size bowMarkus wrote:Saskie, I think this is a very true story. I also think that once the MNR scientists are done examining it, their findings will be interesting and benificial.
) I would want the orginal fish back,not a ...how did they put it "A ACRLIC MOUNT" And before they took it I would like to see that in writing!!!!!!!!-
Markus
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- Location: Nova Scotia/St Catharines
I think the genetics of the fish will be what's interesting.
The MNR has the right to keep all record fish. They will make 3 replicas of the fish. One for the angler, one for MNR use at shows and seminars and one for the musuem.....that's what they did with my neighbors Canadian Record Bluegill anyway.
Croker or not, it's a hell of a fish and it just may be a glimpse of our gentically stocked fish in the future.
The MNR has the right to keep all record fish. They will make 3 replicas of the fish. One for the angler, one for MNR use at shows and seminars and one for the musuem.....that's what they did with my neighbors Canadian Record Bluegill anyway.
Croker or not, it's a hell of a fish and it just may be a glimpse of our gentically stocked fish in the future.
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TroutSlayer
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Valid concerns and observations folks! I think perhaps the writer chose his words wrong, and hope that the fish was willingly given to the MNR with the understanding that the MNR would pay full expenses for a nice mount, saving the catcher hundreds of dollars. We'll know more later I guess.
I'll bet that fish was no older than 7 or 8 years. I think those big pigs grow faster, but have the same lifetime as any rainbow trout.
I'll bet that fish was no older than 7 or 8 years. I think those big pigs grow faster, but have the same lifetime as any rainbow trout.
Cheers,
TS
TS
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fishforfun
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Re read the article guys the fish, from my understanding was willingly given over. Hey if I had a record where would I take it for verification? If it turns out to be a Croker, book early, I expect Croker Cruise and Catch Charters will sell out quickly 
Seriously though after seeing an 18lber last week, I know what I'll target Thanks Giving weekend, those 2 fish give me a renewed optimism in the G Bay fishery. Markus your thoughts on the escape of those farm fish last fall may prove very true
Seriously though after seeing an 18lber last week, I know what I'll target Thanks Giving weekend, those 2 fish give me a renewed optimism in the G Bay fishery. Markus your thoughts on the escape of those farm fish last fall may prove very true