iStockphoto / glxedwards
The Wachusett Reservoir in Massachusetts holds some record lake trout and other fish that anglers long to catch but the reservoir only allows fishing from the lake’s shores and doesn’t allow boats so this body of water has always been a risk-reward location for serious fishermen.
Earlier this year, back in April, the Massachusetts state record for lake trout was broken twice in two days. More specifically, it was the catch-and-release length record for lake trout that was broken twice in two days and what makes the story even wilder is that both anglers who broke the record were friends with Jeff Evans, the angler who set the record last year with a 37-inch lake trout also caught on Wachusett.
So these three anglers all go to trash talk each other while breaking each other state fishing records which is something I’ve never heard of happening until now because more often than not, it is years if not decades between fishing records getting broken.
New footage of John Stamas catching his record-setting fish has gone viral after being shared by the popular Tackle2ThePeople channel on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok and it shows how this awesome catch went down:
For context, here is a still photograph of that record breaking lake trout caught back in April:
As a lifelong fisherman who grew up fishing mostly with my family, it often got really competitive over who could catch the most or the biggest fish. I simply cannot imagine the thrill of getting to call one of your good buddies and tell them you just broke their prized fishing record. That had to feel incredible.
This was a catch-and-release record for lake trout meaning the fish was caught, measured, documented, and then sent back into the water to keep living its life. Massachusetts does also keep a record for lakers that aren’t released and that was a 25 pound, 7 ounce fish measuring 33 inches long that was caught in 2016 on the Quabbin Reservoir by William Roy.
For context, Massachusetts has some great lake trout fishing but pales in comparison to other spots. The IGFA fishing world record set for lake trout is a whopping 72 pound fish caught on Great Bear Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories way back in August of 1995. That is an absolute BEHEMOTH of a fish to catch at anytime but I never would have suspected it was caught in August.
Interestingly, back in 2017 a Colorado angler did catch a lake trout that would have broken the world record by 11 pounds. He caught an 83 pound lake trout while also fishing Great Bear Lake in Canada where the world record was set. However, it wasn’t able to be certified as an IGFA world record because of the method he was using to fish… Womp womp.