New Maryland record rainbow trout caught in Antietam Creek

From the Maryland DNR

Annapolis, Md. — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources recently recognized Jean-Philippe Lartigue, of Bethesda, as a new state record holder for rainbow trout in the Nontidal Division.

Lartigue caught a 17.44-pound rainbow trout Feb. 10 in the section of Antietam Creek running through Devil’s Backbone County Park in Washington County.

Lartigue was fishing with a long, 12-foot crappie-style rod, spinning reel, 8-pound test monofilament line, a small splitshot weight, and a No. 8 hook baited with a natural worm when he hooked the massive rainbow trout.

Lartigue worked as a fisheries biologist consulting with governments in Africa before he retired and settled in Maryland, where he is an avid angler.

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Lartigue is French and originally from Morocco, where he learned from his father the European style of fishing natural baits with long rods for trout. The long rod helps to control the drift and presentation of natural baits in swift stream currents.

“I knew the fish was a very large trout, but I did not see how big it was at the beginning of the fight,” Lartigue said.

“I finally saw the fish, and it made two very long runs to the opposite side of the creek and was hard to move. I also had to keep the fish away from some bridge abutments, which could have cut the line easily.”

After a 30-minute fight, he was able to tire out the fish and grabbed it by the jaw with his fingers since he did not have a landing net large enough.”

Lartigue then slid the fish onto a rocky bank, cutting his finger in the process from the fish’s teeth.

The trout measured 32 inches long. Its weight was determined on a certified scale at Ernst’s Country Market in Clear Spring. Maryland DNR’s director of freshwater fisheries and hatcheries, John Mullican, confirmed the species.

The catch shatters the previous record of 14.2 pounds caught by Dave Schroyer in 1987.

“We are extremely impressed by the weight of the fish, which bests the old record by over 3 pounds, a record that many of us in the department thought would never be broken,” said Recreational Fisheries Outreach Coordinator Erik Zlokovitz.

The Department of Natural Resources maintains state records for sport fish in four divisions – Atlantic, Chesapeake, Nontidal, and Invasive.