New state brookie record — really
This is not a false alarm. The state brook trout record was really broken earlier this spring.
Weeks after former Lake Luzerne resident John Gereau thought he broke the state brookie record, only to find out the fish he caught was a splake, a Utica man really did break the record.
But it didn’t come from one of the storied Adirondack trout ponds from which most of the recent record brookies have come. Instead, it was caught in Hamilton County’s Raquette Lake, a lake that isn’t exactly known as a top brookie water.
The angler, Tom Yacovella, caught the 5-pound, 4-ounce fish June 7 on a Rapala plug. It broke the old record by 5 ounces.
It was certified by the state Department of Environmental Conservation this week.
Meanwhile, a Lake Luzerne area man thought he caught a world-record bullhead earlier this week, only to find out the 14-pound fish was in fact a channel catfish. He caught it in the Hudson River in Lake Luzerne, fishing with worms.
DEC fisheries biologist Rob Fiorentino said the cat was unusually dark, which made the fisherman think it was a bullhead. Bullheads are a small, dark-colored species of catfish, and channel cats are usually gray or off white. But Fiorentino said this one was almost black.
“He was pretty disappointed when I told him it wasn’t a bullhead,” Fiorentino said.
The world-record black bullhead, which was caught in New York, is 8 pounds.
He landed the fish on light tackle and 4-pound test line. That must have been a battle.
bullhead has a paddle tail, cat has a v-shaped tail.