Bear River City man catches record lake trout

Chance Scott holds on to his freshly caught the 53-pound, 15 oz. monster lake trout on July 17, at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

BEAR RIVER CITY – Chance Scott, who lives in Bear River City, has quite the fish story to tell. Only this time his big fish story has been verified as true.

His big fish broke the Utah State Record for the largest Lake Trout. On July 17, Scott was fishing with friends at Flaming Gorge and hooked the 53-pound, 15 oz. monster. The trophy was 44 inches long and had a girth of over 34 inches.

Faith Jolley, Division of Wildlife Resources spokesperson, confirmed it was a new state record.

“We just received the application from Chance Scott on this fish and it is in fact a new state record for catch-and-keep lake trout,” she said. “It has been posted on our website.”

Scott and his friends had to have the fish weighed using a certified scale. They found a brand new one at Buckboard Marina on the Wyoming side of the reservoir.

Jennifer Valdez, who owns the marina, said it was exciting.

“Oh my gosh, it was huge. It laid kitty-corner in the cooler,” she said. “A fish biologist saw it and said it was probably 50 years-old.”

The previous record goes back to 1988 when Curt Bilbey caught a 51-pound 8 ounce Lake Trout in Flaming Gorge. It was 45 1/8 inches long with a girth of 31 ¾.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.