Photo: Colorado Parks & Wildlife
What started as a normal fishing trip became a history-making moment for a Colorado fisherman.
Tim Daniel, of Granby, broke a 75-year-old state record after catching a huge brook trout, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Aquatic Biologist Jon Ewert inspected the fish, which weighed 7.84 pounds, is 23 1/4 inches long, and had a girth of 15 3/8 inches.
“When I headed out to fish that day with my friend Karen and four-legged friend Moose, I had no intention of breaking a record,” Daniel told officials. “I wasn’t sure what I had hooked, but I knew it was big."
Daniel reeled in this large fish on May 23 at Monarch Lake in Grand County, but CPW announced the record-breaking catch on July 29.
“We always suspected that Monarch Lake had the potential to produce a state record Brook Trout," Ewert says in the statement. “This is a real testament to the quality of our angling opportunities in Grand County. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving angler than Tim. He's just one of those guys that is always out there on the water and as a result, has an intimate knowledge of the subtle details necessary to be so successful.”
The previous record for brook trout was 7.63 pounds, which was caught at Upper Cataract Lake in Summit County back in 1947.