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HAY RIVER
A gigantic trout – believed to be one of the biggest fished from Great Slave Lake – has been caught by a Hay River fisherman.

Hay River fisherman Douglas Buckley lifts a massive trout he netted in Great Slave Lake on July 23. - photo courtesy of Marge Osted

The trout, which weighed more than 64 pounds, was caught on July 23 in Douglas Buckley's nets off Slavey Point, about 40 km north of Hay River.

"When I saw it, I thought, 'Holy smoke, that looks like a good-sized fish,'" said Buckley, a commercial fisherman in Hay River.

Buckley thought he had snagged a log because the net got so tight.

At Fisherman's Wharf in Hay River, the fish was weighed on a bathroom scale, tipping it at 65 pounds.

That makes it one of the biggest trout taken from Great Slave Lake.

"It's a record for me," said Buckley, who has been fishing on the lake for nearly 40 years, beginning when he was just a child.

The late Joe Nault caught a trout weighing 74.5 pounds from the lake in 1968. That fish is mounted on the wall at the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre in Yellowknife.

Buckley donated his fish to the Hay River Museum Society.

Peter Osted, co-chair of the society, was standing at the dock when the fish was landed.

Osted said the society was very pleased to receive the fish to display at the Hay River Heritage Centre.

However, the fish may go for study, instead.

"We're in negotiation with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for them to take it over for scientific purposes," Osted said.

If DFO takes the fish, it would provide a fibreglass replica for display at the Hay River Heritage Centre.

"It's an ancient fish," Osted said, noting, if it is studied, the museum can obtain the reports to add to the display.

"I think it's more valuable if we have all of that," he said.

Osted said it might be a couple of weeks before it is known where exactly the fish will end up.

The fish is currently in a DFO freezer in Hay River.

Les Sanderson, DFO's acting field supervisor for Hay River, also weighed the fish and it registered 64.75 pounds.

"That is by far the biggest fish I've seen come out of the lake," he said, noting the previous largest he has seen was 25 to 30 pounds.

However, he said it is not the biggest lake trout that's been caught in a net, noting, for example, a trout weighing more than 80 pounds was caught in Great Bear Lake last year.

The world record is a trout weighing more than 100 pounds from Lake Athabasca in Alberta.

Sanderson said he is not aware of any official records for lake trout caught by commercial fishermen.

The DFO official said such large lake trout are not caught very often.

"When lake trout get that big, they almost look alien," he said.

Sanderson said the trout could be sterile, meaning most of its energy went towards body fat as opposed to reproduction.

In addition, he suspects the fish is very old.

Usually a fish's age can be calculated at year per pound, However Sanderson said, in cold water that formula doesn't apply because the fish could be much older as it would grow more slowly.

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