It might be a long time before anyone dethrones Idaho’s new certified-weight tiger trout record. That’s because Kody King of Montpelier nearly doubled the standing record with the fish he hauled out of the Montpelier Reservoir on May 30, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reports.
The 29-inch trout prompted King to keep the fish and weigh it on a certified scale, which tipped at 8 pounds, 8 ounces. Further details on the record-breaking fish and the angler are scarce and IDFG did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but we do know that the prior tiger trout record weighed 4 pounds, 13 ounces. Gatlynn Mayes caught the 24-inch fish on Becker Pond in Idaho Falls on Dec. 16, 2020, breaking the previous record of 4 pounds, .6 ounces from 2018. The current International Game Fish Association All-Tackle tiger trout record sits at 27 pounds, 6 ounces. Cathy Clegg caught the fish on Loon Lake in eastern Washington in August 2022.
IDFG stocks the Montpelier Reservoir with tiger trout. The last stocking happened on June 14, 2022, when IDFG released 1,060 fish longer than 6 inches into the 131-acre waterbody.
All About Tiger Trout
A tiger trout is a sterile hybrid of a female brown trout and a male brook trout. Neither species is native to Idaho—brown trout were introduced from Europe and brook trout came from the eastern United States. Tiger trout are rarely produced in the wild, since they are the offspring of two distinct species. The scarce wild tiger trout is a small, elusive fish while the hatchery-raised tiger is bigger and much more aggressive.
Tiger trout are easy to recognize. The wiggly pattern that covers their bodies is more reminiscent of a composition notebook than a tiger, but it is similar to the pattern that covers the top of a brook trout. Tiger trout might also have the white stripe on their lower fins, similar to the brook trout. But their bellies range from white to an orange-yellow color, characteristic of both the male brook trout and the female brown trout.
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Just 35 percent of hatchery-bred specimens survive, and the percentage is even lower for wild specimens, according to IGFA. State wildlife agencies stock tiger trout in ponds, reservoirs, lakes, and streams across the country, from Nevada to Massachusetts.
