New Indiana state record brown trout

[GLF]

Dyer man boats Lake Michigan net buster

Indiana DNR has certified a 29.3-pound Lake Michigan brown trout, caught by Glen Duesing of Dyer, as a new state record fish.

On April 2, Duesing was fishing along the north wall of the State Line Power Plant near Whiting, when Indiana's biggest brown trout attacked his Smithwick Rogue crankbait.

"Our boat was trolling for coho (salmon), but rough, stained water and wind forced us to try fishing for browns along the power plant wall," said Duesing. There was a lot of warm water from the power plant flowing down the wall."

Duesing said as soon as he felt the fish taking line he told his boat mates it was a good fish. "We pulled everything, rods and outriggers, and drifted and fought the fish for 20 minutes. We got the fish next to the boat, and when I saw it, I again said, 'This is a GOOD FISH!'"

As Duesing and his crew tried to boat the big brown, the weight of the fish broke the net handle. "The fish wouldn't fit in the net, and then the net broke," said Duesing. "Luckily, hooks on the lure stuck in the net mesh and we pulled the fish and tangled mesh into the boat."

The champion angler weighed his catch on a state-certified scale at Howard and Sons Meat Market in Munster. The scale stopped spinning at 29.3 pounds. The fish stretched 3 feet and 3.75 inches. A tape wrapped around the fish's belly measured nearly 2 feet (23 inches) of girth.

Lake Michigan fisheries biologist Janel Palla from the Lake Michigan DNR office in Michigan City verified the catch was a brown trout.

Because of the brown trout's large size, Indiana's fisheries chief Bill James suspects the trout was a Seeforellen strain of brown trout stocked by Wisconsin. Seeforellen browns are native to alpine lakes in Europe, where they are noted for their large size and long life spans.

Brown trout grow well in Lake Michigan. The Indiana state record brown trout record was topped once in 2001 and twice in 1999.

In Oct. 2001, Mitchell Boilek from Hammond was fishing from his boat for Lake Michigan smallmouth bass, when a 25-pound brown trout smacked his tube jig lure and yanked him into Hoosier fishing history.

In March 1999, the record 23-pound Lake Michigan brown trout caught by Joe Hankins of Martinsville was surpassed in September of the same year when South Bend resident Steven Bay pulled a 24-pound, yard-long brown trout from Michigan City's Trail Creek.