Sam Boucha and her boyfriend Brad Molloy were ice fishing in Canada when they fought a giant lake trout for nearly an hour before concluding the hole in the ice wasn't wide enough for the fish.
The fish spit the hook in the meantime, but Boucha reached down into the frigid water, grabbed hold of the fish, and waited for the hole in the ice to open.
I was frozen," Boucha told the CBC. "Well, it was bare-handed, arm down the hole to my shoulder, holding on to that fish till the second hole was bored," the fisherman said. "We had a cabin to warm up in afterward, so that was wonderful."
According to Boucha's account in Outdoor Life, she "could hardly hold it" when she passed through the 2.2-foot ice hole.
Boucha inserted it into the newly formed chasm and yanked it through. The lake trout was 57.4 inches long and had a circumference of 31 inches. A hand scale only registered up to 50 pounds, but measurements led to an estimated 57-pound weight. The fish was the largest one Boucha had ever reeled in.
I've caught a trout that weighed 35 pounds before, and this one was around the same, so we're really happy, she told CBC. As the saying goes, "That was unbelievable."
As the fish is now extinct, Boucha hopes to have it mounted and displayed in either her home or the family cottage. She helped scientists study the fish and determine its age by donating a pectoral fin and an ocular bone.
Boucha caught it at the town of Red Lake, Ontario, on Red Lake. Many social media users commented positively on the catch, while others were saddened by the fish's demise. A family friend at Red Lake had this to say about Boucha: "You're a fishing goddess." Boucha relayed this to the CBC. That's appealing to me.
The fish spit the hook in the meantime, but Boucha reached down into the frigid water, grabbed hold of the fish, and waited for the hole in the ice to open.
I was frozen," Boucha told the CBC. "Well, it was bare-handed, arm down the hole to my shoulder, holding on to that fish till the second hole was bored," the fisherman said. "We had a cabin to warm up in afterward, so that was wonderful."
According to Boucha's account in Outdoor Life, she "could hardly hold it" when she passed through the 2.2-foot ice hole.
Boucha inserted it into the newly formed chasm and yanked it through. The lake trout was 57.4 inches long and had a circumference of 31 inches. A hand scale only registered up to 50 pounds, but measurements led to an estimated 57-pound weight. The fish was the largest one Boucha had ever reeled in.
I've caught a trout that weighed 35 pounds before, and this one was around the same, so we're really happy, she told CBC. As the saying goes, "That was unbelievable."
As the fish is now extinct, Boucha hopes to have it mounted and displayed in either her home or the family cottage. She helped scientists study the fish and determine its age by donating a pectoral fin and an ocular bone.
Boucha caught it at the town of Red Lake, Ontario, on Red Lake. Many social media users commented positively on the catch, while others were saddened by the fish's demise. A family friend at Red Lake had this to say about Boucha: "You're a fishing goddess." Boucha relayed this to the CBC. That's appealing to me.
