The angler’s 30-minute battle with the fish played out just miles upstream of one of the deadliest battlefields in American history<\/p>\n
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Jean-Phillipe Lartigue holds up the new Maryland state-record rainbow trout. Photograph courtesy Jean-Phillipe Lartigue<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Retired fisheries biologist Jean-Phillipe Lartigue caught a fat rainbow trout from Maryland\u2019s Antietam Creek on Saturday. Measuring more than 30 inches long and weighing 17.44 pounds, Lartigue\u2019s trout shatters the previous state record \u2014 a 14.2-pounder caught in 1987. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lartigue caught the huge trout from a public stretch of Antietam Creek that flows through Devil\u2019s Backbone Park in Washington County. History buffs will recognize the creek as the site of a pivotal battle that took place during the Civil War. Still considered the bloodiest single-day conflict in American history, the Battle of Antietam<\/a> was fought just miles downstream of the county park near the town of Sharpsburg.<\/p>\n Waging a different sort of battle altogether, Lartigue fought the giant trout for 30 minutes before he was able to land it on his own. While the avid stream fisherman has caught big trout all over the world, he says the 17-plus-pound rainbow he landed over the weekend was a different animal.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve caught other big trout to 10 pounds, but this fish was the biggest I\u2019ve taken,\u201d Lartigue tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cIt jumped twice, and I was very worried about losing it because I was using light 8-pound test line.\u201d<\/p>\n His light-line setup included a specialized 12-foot rod with an extra supple tip paired with a spinning reel. Lartigue added a small split shot to the 8-pound monofilament leader and used a No. 8 hook baited with an earthworm he\u2019d dug out of his own yard in Bethesda.<\/p>\n Lartigue is French but he lived and worked as a biologist in Morocco. Fishing in both Europe and northern Africa, he became an expert on the European technique<\/a> of dead-drifting flies and natural baits with extra-long rods. These long rods help anglers control their drifts with more precision. Their soft, springy tips also help protect light lines from breaking, which was crucial in helping Lartigue land his record-breaking fish over the weekend. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I might lose it as soon as I saw it jump,\u201d he says. \u201cThe creek has lots of rocks that it could have cut the line on. There was a bridge over the creek with abutments, so I had to keep the trout away from those too \u2026 But after a [long] fight it tired and I was able to move the fish into shallow water, wade out, and grab it.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Next:<\/strong> Colorado Man Catches Pending World-Record Lake Trout While Fishing with His Son<\/a><\/p>\n Because he didn\u2019t have a net on him, Lartigue really did have to \u201cgrab\u201d the trout, and he cut his fingers on its jaw in the process. By the time he walked back to his car, a crowd of onlookers had already gathered there to gawk at the fat fish. A few of them shared some advice on how to weigh and measure the trout, so Lartigue contacted the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and brought his catch to a certified scale at Ernst\u2019s Country Market in Clear Spring.<\/p>\n The rainbow trout measured 32 inches long and tipped the scales at 17.44 pounds. The DNR\u2019s director of fisheries John Mullican confirmed these measurements and the agency officially declared<\/a> Lartigue\u2019s fish a new state record on Tuesday.<\/p>\n While some anglers might have chosen to mount the fish or get a replica made, Lartigue went a different route. <\/p>\n \u201cWe ate it,\u201d he says, \u201cand it was delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n