MD Record For Rainbow Trout Shattered By Avid Angler From Bethesda

BETHESDA, MD — A Bethesda resident is the new state record holder for rainbow trout in the nontidal division, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Jean-Philippe Lartigue caught a 17.44-pound rainbow trout on Saturday, Feb. 10 in the section of Antietam Creek running through Devil’s Backbone County Park in Washington County.

The catch shattered the previous record of 14.2 pounds caught by Dave Schroyer on Oct. 21, 1987.

Lartigue was fishing with a long, 12-foot crappie-style rod, spinning reel, eight-pound test monofilament line, a small split-shot weight, and a No. 8 hook baited with a natural worm bait when he caught the massive rainbow trout, the Maryland DNR said.

“I knew the fish was a very large trout, but I did not see how big it was at the beginning of the fight,” Lartigue told the DNR. “I finally saw the fish, and it made two very long runs to the opposite side of the creek and was hard to move. I also had to keep the fish away from some bridge abutments, which could have cut the line easily.”

After 30 minutes, Lartigue was able to tire out the fish and grabbed it by the jaw with his fingers since he did not have a landing net large enough.

Lartigue worked as a fisheries biologist, consulting with governments in Africa before he retired and settled in Maryland, where he is an avid angler. Lartigue is French and originally from Morocco, where he learned from his father the European style of fishing natural baits with long rods for trout. The long rod helps to control the drift and presentation of natural baits in swift stream currents.

After catching the rainbow trout on Saturday, Lartigue slid the fish onto a rocky bank, cutting his finger from the fish’s teeth, according to the DNR.

The fish measured 32 inches long. Its weight was determined on a certified scale at Ernst’s Country Market in Clear Spring.

John Mullican, DNR’s director of freshwater fisheries and hatcheries, confirmed the species.

“We are extremely impressed by the weight of the fish, which bests the old record by over 3 pounds, a record that many of us in the department thought would never be broken,” DNR Recreational Fisheries Outreach Coordinator Erik Zlokovitz said in a statement.

The DNR maintains state records for sport fish in four divisions: Atlantic, Chesapeake, Nontidal and Invasive.

Anglers who think they have a potential record catch should download and complete a state record application and call 443-569-1398.