The all-tackle record of a huge lake trout answers the question “What is the biggest trout ever caught on rod and reel?” But that question, in fairness, should ask what is the biggest trout ever caught, by species. There are many species of trout found in North America and “big” is all relative. For example, for the rather obscure little Gila trout, a 3-pounder is a monster. The list here considers 10 of the species caught in the U.S. However, beyond this lineup there are others not included here; many are obscure or not found in this country. These, listed by the IGFA, include Adriatic, aurora, biwamasu, cutbow, Dolly Varden, masu, ohrid, red-spotted masu, and sunapee species.
Record Apache Trout
About the Catch
- Oncorhynchus apache
- 5 pounds, 3 ounces (2.36 kg)
- Angler John Baldwin
- May 29, 1991
- White Mountain Apache Reservoir, Arizona
- Fly fishing
- 4x tippet (approximately 6-pound test)
- Damsel fly
The apache is the Arizona state fish; it’s found only in Arizona and New Mexico. In 2024, this small species was delisted as endangered on the ESA list, after non-native trout were largely eradicated from the Apache’s traditional habitats in Arizona’s White Mountains.
Record Brook Trout
About the Catch
- Salvelinus fontinalis
- 14 pounds, 8 ounces (6.57 kg)
- Angler J. W. Cook
- July 21, 1915
- Nipigon River, Ontario, Canada
- The method of fishing and tackle used are not listed nor were they required more than 100 years ago.
Species of the genus Salvelinus are often referred to as chars; the genus includes Arctic char, Dolly Varden, brook and lake trout. Like most chars, the brookie’s fins are white on the leading edge. Brook trout are native to the Northeast, though it can be found to the south in the Appalachians and down to northern Georgia, as well as in the Southwest. The species prefers clear cold streams in waters ideally 57 to 61 degrees F.
Record Brown Trout
About the Catch
- Salmo trutta
- 44 pounds, 5 ounces (20.1 kg)
- Angler Seumas Petrie
- Oct 27, 2020
- Ohau Canal, Twizel, New Zealand
- Casting
- 6-pound line
- Nitro jighead
The brown trout was brought to this continent; in fact, it’s native to Europe and parts of Asia, and introduced to Canada, and the United States, as well as South America, New Zealand and even Africa. Like several other trout species, in some coastal areas, they’re caught in salt water as sea-run browns, making them anadromous (since these fish return to freshwater streams to spawn).
Record Bull Trout
About the Catch
- Salvelinus confluentus
- 32 pounds (14.51 kg)
- Angler N. Higgins
- Oct 27, 1949
- Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho
- Casting or trolling (no specified)
- Line size not given
- Lucky Louis plug
Bull trout are endemic to Northwestern states and western Canada. For decades, the species was confused with Dolly Varden; indeed, it’s tricky for the layman to distinguish the two species. It’s a char, similar not only to Dolly Varden but to brook and lake trout. Bull trout favor deep pools of large, cold rivers and lakes. In coastal areas, some are anadromous, migrating to saltwater when young, returning to spawn. The species is listed as “threatened” under Endangered Species Act.
Record Cutthroat Trout
About the Catch
- Oncorhynchus clarkii
- 41 pounds (18.59 kg)
- Angler John Skimmerhorn
- Dec 1, 1925
- Pyramid Lake, Nevada
- No details available on tackle or fishing method
Cutthroat are very common as sea-runs; in other words, they too are anadromous, from northern California to southern Alaska, remaining near shore. They can exhibit a great deal of variation in colors. In their sea-run form, they tend to be silver (and are known as “bluebacks” in Oregon).
The subspecies known as Lahontan were traditionally native to Lakes Tahoe and Pyramid and the Truckee River, and averaged 20 pounds and as large as the 41-pound all-tackle record. The IGFA World Record Game Fishes Book states that, “In 1938, water was diverted from the Truckee River, and the Lahontan became extinct except for populations maintained by stocking” but these do not reach the phenomenal size as before.
Record Gila Trout
About the Catch
- Oncorhynchus gila
- 3 pounds, 7 ounces (1.56 kg)
- Angler Bo Nelson
- March 19, 2011
- Frye Mesa Reservoir, Arizona
- Fly fishing
- 4-pound tippet
- Pheasant tail fly
Gila trout are, as their name might suggest, found only in Arizona and New Mexico, where they inhabit small mountain streams. Their bright copper/yellow coloring is striking. In the 1950s, Gila numbers and range were so reduced that they earned an “endangered” listing under the ESA. Protections helped enough that by 2006, the Gila was down-listed to “threatened” and limited sport fishing was allowed. USFWS’s program of stream restoration and restocking gila trout hold promise for removing the threatened listing, some day.
Record Golden Trout
About the Catch
- Oncorhynchus aguabonita
- 11 pounds (4.98 kg)
- Angler Chas Reed
- August 5, 1948
- Cooks Lake, Wyoming
- Bait fishing
- Line strength not listed
- Spinner with a minnow
Spectacularly colored, the species lives up to its eponymous name, with bright red-pink lateral stripes over the shiny gold body (though at lower altitudes the golden trout becomes more silver-blue). The species is native only to the upper Kern River basin in California, but widely introduced to other western states including Washington, Idaho and Wyoming which have self-sustaining populations.
Record Lake Trout
About the Catch
- Salvelinus namaycush)
- 72 pounds (32.65 kg)
- Angler Lloyd Bull
- August 19, 1995
- Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada
- Trolling
- 30-pound line
- Huskie Devle spoon
Largest of the chars, lakers have apparently been caught commercially over 100 pounds (in a gill net). The species is found throughout most of Canada and Alaska as well the Great Lakes and Western reservoirs. In the southern part of its range, lake trout seek out deeper, cool water much of the year. A subspecies, S. namaycush siscowet, is found in Lake Superior at depths of 300 to 600 feet (its flesh markedly fattier than other types of lake trout).
Record Rainbow Trout
About the Catch
- Oncorhynchus mykiss
- 48 pounds (21.77 kg)
- Angler Sean Konrad
- September 5, 2009
- Lake Diefenbaker, Saskatchewan, Canada
- Casting
- 14-pound braid
- Rapala Jointed X-Rap
Native to western U.S. and Canada, the rainbow has been introduced widely to much of the East as well. It inhabits lakes and streams. Color varies considerably per size, habitat and spawning, though the sea-run variation known in coastal states as steelhead are notably silver, and long/slender in shape.
The capture of the all-tackle record offered a colorful narrative, wherein two young Saskatchewan twins in 2006 set about trying to break the rainbow trout record, certain that Lake Diefenbaker held fish larger than the all-tackle record at that time of 42 pounds. In 2007, Adam Konrad proved it by catching a 43-pound, 10-ounce rainbow from the lake, and in 2009 came Sean’s 48-pounder. Some controversy followed the catch on social media when word spread that Diefenbaker was home to genetically engineered rainbow that had escaped a fish farm nine years earlier — a strain genetically engineered to grow fast and large. But the IGFA let the record stand, arguing that, after all, the fish was a rainbow trout, O. mykiss.
Record Tiger Trout
About the Catch
- Salmo trutta x Salvelinus fontinalis
- 27 pound, 6 ounces
- Angler Cathy A. Clegg
- Loon Lake, Washington
- Casting
- 30-pound braid
- Nightcrawler
The tiger is a cross between a brown and brook trout. This happens only infrequently in nature and occasionally in hatcheries. Often the young don’t survive and when they do, the hybrids are unable to reproduce. That said, the cross does occur and gives a few lucky anglers who stumble into one in the wild or where stocked from hatcheries the chance to land a rare species. A glance at the world-record listings reveals, first, the species’ rare status since more than half of the categories remain vacant, and, second, that tigers have been widely stocked, with IGFA records from Western U.S. states, New Jersey, Virginia, Australia, the UK and elsewhere.
