Monster Brown Trout Is Largest Ever Caught in New Zealand


This huge (42-pound, 1-ounce) beast is the largest brown ever caught in New Zealand.

photo via stuff.co.nz

New Zealand is known for its stunning brown trout, but the beast that angler Otwin Kandolf caught last week won’t be winning any beauty contests. (I had to check to make sure this story wasn’t a joke. “Otwin Kandolf” sounds like a Lord of the Rings character, doesn’t it?)

The Ohau B hydro canal in South Canterbury is near enough to a salmon farm that the trout grow fat on pellets, and it has been known to yield fat trout. Kandolf spotted the fish, and immediately divined its aesthetic shortcomings:


“I just looked at the fish and saw how ugly it was; itโ€™s not a nice-looking fish,” he said of his prized catch.

Handsome or not, the thing was obviously huge, so Kandolf threw a lure at it. After a 15-minute fight, he had it to hand. When he finally got it to a certified scale at a butcher shop, it weighed in at 42 pounds, 1 ounce. That’s three pounds short of the world record, but tops the previous New Zealand record by more than two pounds.

Click here for the full story and to see the weigh-in.

One thought on “Monster Brown Trout Is Largest Ever Caught in New Zealand”

  1. That fish is a hawg! I know a place where there are monster trout that feed on liver pellets. They really love brown egg patterns for some reason ๐Ÿ™‚

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