Using a tip-up, Minnesota resident caught a record smashing lake trout on the Canadian side of lac LaCroix in northwestern Ontario.
Photo Credit: R Scott

A whopper of a tale, but it did get away, kind of

An American ice fisherman got a lot more than he expected on a recent fishing trip to Canada.

He not only caught what is very probably a world record fish, but he himself got caught up in the law, and has now made headlines around the fishing world.

Rob Scott, 65, of Minnesota was on the Ontario side of the border lake, Lac LaCroix in February. He caught a nice 2kg lake trout on his ice-fishing tip-up but gave that one away to his nephew.

Later he caught the whopper at 23.6 kg.

Unfortunately, the law in Ontario is that you can only catch and keep one trout per day.

Lac La Croix-red dot- straddles the Ontario (CDA) -Minnesota (USA) border.(google) CLICK TO ENLARGE

Lac La Croix-red dot- straddles the Ontario (CDA) -Minnesota (USA) border.(google) CLICK TO ENLARGE

He later admitted to Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources agents that he had caught two, and he was charged.

Last week in court in Fort Frances Ontario, he readily pleaded guilty and paid a $400 fine.

He had planned to submit the fish to the US Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Wisconsin where the current record for ice-fishing is a mere 13.6 kg (29lb 6oz)

Unfortunately he didn’t get to keep the fish.  He had taken it to a taxidermy shop in Minnesota, but game officials there confiscated it on behalf of the Ontario MNR and sent it to them where it remains.

The MNR says it may mount the fish and use it for educational and recruiting purposes.

Scott says he hold no grudge against the MNR, saying he was in the wrong.

There is some consolation for him however. This past Sunday he took a snowmobile out to the same spot and on a 6-pound test line and tip-up, he caught a a near record 13.3 kg trout. He says that one will be mounted..for him.

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