Man, 45, catches huge lake trout that might be as old as he

Fishing with four others in a team tournament on Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula last month, Chris VanEvera hooked into a huge lake trout that he initially thought might be a snag.

“It took a few minutes to get the planer board into our boat, and when I did, and could feel the fish directly, I knew it was a good one,” VanEvera told Outdoor Life.

After a 35-minute battle, VanEvera landed a lake trout that tipped the scales at 38.15 pounds and whose age just might be equal to the 45-year-old VanEvera, who plans to have the fish mounted.

“The taxidermist, Tim Gorenghan, is going to have my laker aged, because they grow so very slowly in Lake Superior,” VanEvera told Outdoor Life. “They think my fish may be about as old as me.”

“Lake trout are generally slow-growing, but long-lived, which means that populations are susceptible to overfishing,” Orvis News reported. “They reach sexual maturity at 6 or 7 years, commonly live in excess of 25 years, and have…