Here are five big fish stories of 2020 about the ones that didn’t get away

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - 2020 had a lot of big fish stories.

As manager of Idaho’s State Record Fish Program, Martin Koenig has reviewed five favorite records from a great year. This is not a complete list - just personal favorites. You can see the complete lists, or check out more articles on the many impressive records caught this year on the state record blog page. 

2020 saw a flood of new state record fish - mostly under the “catch-and-release” category. The only year with more entries was 2016, but that was the first year that catch-and-release records started, so we expected a lot of new records.

In total, 2020 had 27 new catch-and-release state records, 24 of which were gamefish, and the others nongame species (like carp and pikeminnows). Compare that to 2019 which only saw eight total catch/release records.

No bull, that's a really big bull trout

Starting us off is Sawyer Livesey of Post Falls, Idaho. Sawyer landed this spectacular 30.5-inch bull trout in April from the Kootenai River. While impressive, it wasn’t meant to last, and his record was broken by Ed O'Hara of Hayden, Idaho with a 31-inch bull trout from Lake Pend Oreille  later in the August.

Is a huge smallie a thing? 

Spring 2020 produced a few other notable big fish stories including some big bass and panfish. Dustin Shepherd of Lewiston clinched a catch-and-release record with an impressive 22.75-inch smallmouth bass from Dworshak Reservoir. 

Somewhere over the...

Shortly after in June, American Falls Reservoir produced yet another huge rainbow trout. Brett Jones landed a 31.25-inch monster trout, adding another record to the lake’s list of trophies. 

Here kitty, kitty

Not only was 2020 a good year for big trout, it was a big year for warmwater species too. As the summer progressed, we saw multiple new catch-and-release records for channel catfish, black crappie, and sunfish. However, if I had to pick my favorite warmwater record fish of 2020, it would be the 42-inch flathead catfish caught by Jared Holt of Homedale, Idaho from the Snake River in September.

C'mon, man, that's a Chinook in disguise

Completing my five favorite big fish stories of 2020 is the giant Yellowstone cutthroat trout caught by Nate Burr, of Rexburg, Idaho. The 31-inch cutthroat trout is such a spectacular example of one of Idaho’s native trout species. Even more remarkable is that Nate’s fish barely passed the equally impressive 30.5-inch catch/release record for Yellowstone cutthroat trout, set only weeks before by Sam Hix! The fact that two huge cutthroat trout would set back-to-back within weeks makes this my favorite record of 2020.