Vern Evans
The Minnesota Department of Fish and Widllife officially confirmed the state’s newest laker record on Monday. The 43.25-inch lake trout caught by Isaiah Bartlett in March surpassed the state’s existing catch-and-release record, which is measured by length, by just ¾ inch.
Bartlett, who hails from Culver, Minnesota, was fishing Lake Superior with charter captain Ethan Waytashek on March 12. At the time, Bartlett had never caught a laker before. Conditions were slow that day, but Waytashek eventually got him on fish.
“All I do is fish jigs for lakers,” the 26-year-old Lake Superior Jigging guide told Outdoor Life last month. “No trolling, just jigging, and only for lake trout.”
That afternoon Bartlett was jigging a drop off in 165-feet of water when a big fish hit his jig. After 10 minutes, Bartlett maneuvered the trout close enough for Waytashek to net it. He knew immediately it was a state record, and followed the proper protocol.
“I laid Isaiah’s fish on my boat measuring fish board and it was 43.25-inches long. I knew it topped the current catch-and-release laker record, because the woman who caught it fished with me last year on Superior. Kelsey Vanderheyden’s record fish measured 42.50 inches and is the current record for Minnesota.”
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