FishRook
On October 8, 2022, angler Jason Smiley hooked into a once-in-a-lifetime trout while plying the waters of a remote mountain lake in Colorado’s Uncompahgre National Forest. The fish turned out to be a 8-pound, 9-ounce brook trout—the largest brookie ever caught and recorded in Centennial State history. According to the Colorado Department of Parks & Wildlife (CPW), the trout measured 26.35 inches long and had a 16-inch girth. Smiley netted it just five months after another Colorado fisherman named Tim Daniel caught a 7.84-pound brook trout that bested a record stretching back to 1947.
“The experience of this catch has been surreal, and it took a few days to soak in,” Smiley later told the CPW. “The toughest thing for me was deciding to keep the fish.” Smiley caught the big brook trout in Waterdog Lake after hiking 3.9 miles and gaining 2,400 feet of elevation.
He’d hooked quite a few smaller fish throughout the day and was on the verge of calling it…
