According to a recent story by Guy Ellis, the Michigan contributor for the Internet web site www.allloutdoors.com, there is a new Michigan state record German brown trout.
On April 5, Larry Curtis of Reed City, Mich., was fishing aboard The Crawdad, out of Bear Lake. The boat was captained by Dave Golden and they were trolling south from the port of Arcadia on Lake Michigan.
They went fishless for over three hours, passing the port of Onekama and nearly reaching Manistee, when Curtis thought he had hung up his No. 11 Chartreuse/silver Rapala lure on the bottom in 10 feet of water.
The tug of war lasted nearly an hour before Dave's son, Don, was able to slide a net under the huge fish.
They estimated the fish's weight at 24-26 pounds. The fish was put in the cooler and they continued fishing.
Five fish and nearly that many hours later, they returned to Arcadia and had the fish weighed.
"At first when they put it on the scales, we thought it weighed 24 pounds. Then we realized the scales (rotary spring scales) went around an additional time, making the weight 34 pounds, 7.5-ounces." said Curtis.
They took the fish to the Bear Lake IGA, a local grocery store, to have it weighed on certified scales.
It was weighed and certified at 34.62 pounds. The big brown measured 40.5 inches.
He took the fish to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in Cadillac to be identified by Tom Rozich, supervisor of fisheries biologists.
