More Idaho fish records fall

Two more anglers have landed spots in Idaho’s fish record books.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game announced this week that Luke Anderson caught the state’s new certified weight record for westslope cutthroat trout in June on the St. Maries River.

The fish itself is far from being the biggest cutthroat trout in the world. It was a 13.6-inch cutthroat that weighed less than a pound, according to Idaho Fish and Game. The state’s catch-and-release record westslope – caught in February on Lake Pend Oreille – is 27 inches.

Anderson’s fish snagged the certified weight record in part because of Idaho’s recent changes to the state record fish program.

In 2016, Idaho Fish and Game added to its catch-and-release records list, opening up a bunch of new categories for anglers to claim recognition for their trophies. They also split up the cutthroat records by subspecies – Idaho has populations of Bonneville, Yellowstone and Lahontan cutthroats in addition to westslopes.

The state’s previous record cutthroat was a Bonneville from Bear Lake. That left three other species with no certified weight records.

With Anderson’s westslope, all three have now been claimed. The Yellowstone cutthroat record was also set this year, with a 20-inch fish caught by Dustin Judy in Henrys Lake in February.

Idaho Fish and Game announced yet another new fish record on Monday.

An angler from the small town of Moore landed the state’s new catch-and-release record Arctic grayling.

Wade Jensen caught the 16.7-inch fish while fly-fishing at Fishpole Lake in late June.

More than a half-dozen fish records have been set in Idaho this year. In addition to the catch-and-release record westslope, Lake Pend Oreille also gave up the state’s new catch-and-release record northern pike in June.

Farther north, the Kootenai River produced the new state record burbot in March. The 26.75-inch fish was caught at night by Caleb Wilson of Troy, according to Idaho Fish and Game.