It’s not that often that I post stories from outside of Ohio or the expanded Great Lakes Region. When I came across a ‘jaw dropping’ photo of an enormous Rainbow Trout in a recent news feed, I knew I would be making an exception. Take a look for yourself;
Larry Warren with his 32 inch, 28.37 pound Rainbow Trout on 1/8/15
The story goes that Larry was fishing on the North Fork of the Clearwater River when he caught the mammoth trout. Idaho law requires any Rainbow Trout over 20 inches with an intact adipose fin, must be released if it is caught in waters where Steelhead may be found. Wild Steelhead are protected in the Snake River water system, under the Endangered Species Act, and Larry knew he had no choice but to return it to the water. Good for Larry that he knew the rules, and good for Larry that he followed them. Bad for Larry that he couldn’t keep it, because it would have shattered the Idaho record by nearly 8 pounds!
On a final note, I want to say that I admire Larry for providing the world with a wonderful photo. The fish is massive, and he didn’t shove it down the camera lens to prove it. To the trained eye, nearly all of the major ‘cool catch’ photos around the web, suffer from the same problem of anglers trying to over compensate the size of their catch by creative posing. This is an old school angler, with an old school display of his trophy, and I love it.
coolwaterfish.com 
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