A publication of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council

A month after shore angler Manny Paolinetti netted an Illinois state record 29.81 lb. brown trout from the Waukegan rocks, on June 22 Deva Vranek of Palos Hills shattered that mark with a massive 36.72 lb. brown caught five miles off Chicago's Bumham Harbor southwest of the P-marker.

 Meanwhile, at the other end of the basin, in Lake Ontario off the shore of Oswego County, angler Tony Brown of Schenectady caught a 33.2 lb. male brown on June 10, in 24 ft. of water. Brown's brown was 38 inches long with a girth of 25 inches, beating the previous record set in 1993 by more than two pounds. The old record was also set in Oswego County.

 Brown caught his record on a black and silver Smithwick Rogue lure. He and his father Tom were fishing with GLSFC member Capt. Gerry Bresadola of B & B Charters, Mexico. Brown used 8 lb. test line with a 6 lb. leader, and a custom noodle rod by Ernie Lantiegne, also of Mexico.

 Not having a cooler big enough to hold his fish, Vranek tied it to the net, then tied the net and fish to the back of the boat to keep it fresh while they hauled it in. "It may have lost a little weight en route," said Vranek. "We were fishing for coho and never expected to haul in a fish this big."

 His brown was 40 1/4 inches long with a 26 5/8 inch girth. The fish not only dwarfed the month old record by nearly seven pounds but it was also six inches longer, slightly fatter and is potentially the new Great Lakes Brown Trout record.

 Paolinetti caught his brown on an alewife using 8 lb. test line. Fortunately he had 300 yards spooled on his reel because his battle took around 30 minutes, and drew quite a crowd. Coincidentally, Paolinetti was registered in the Evinrude Salmon Classic run by GLSFC member Tony Portincasso, and he came in first. For the biggest fish he won a 14 ft. Prince Craft Fisherman and an 8 hp Evinrude Outboard, both made by the OMC Corporation, another GLSFC supporter, and a Shorelander trailer. Over 4300 anglers were registered in the free tournament.

 Vranek was trolling in 48 feet of water with a 6 ft. spinning rod, a deep-diving blue-green Arbogast crankbait and 20 lb. Fireline, the new high tech, no memory, no stretch, MicroDyneemma line from Berkley. The fish originally weighed in at 36.14 lbs. at Henry's Bait and Marine, whose proprietor and GLSFC supporter, Henry Paimisano, immediately contacted DNR authorities. To make sure the formalities were in place, Palmisano checked the certification of his scale then reweighed the frozen fish. It had lost 2 1/2 ounces overnight.

 "It's an amazing fish," said fisheries biologist Tom Trudeau. "It's interesting to me that anglers are catching these fish, especially because browns are not targeted too often. " Trudeau said scale samples showed that both the Paolinetti fish and the new record indicate both were six years old -- "which I think is an amazing growth rate."

 Although unconfirmed the two Illinois browns may be the Seeforellen strain which Wisconsin has been planting since fall of 1991, and are estimated to reach upwards of 50 lbs. It is generally acknowledged in the area that the new world record brown trout, when caught, will be the Seeforellen, planted by Wisconsin, in Lake Michigan waters.

 The current Wisconsin record brown, set last year, is 35.12 lbs., and Michigan's record is 34.6 lbs. The current world record is 40.4 lbs., caught in 1992 in the Little Red River in Arkansas.

 The largest sport caught fish coming out of the Great Lakes region to date is the 47.13 lb. Chinook salmon caught in the Salmon River, Oswego County, NY in 1991.

 Seeforellens were originally brought from New York and. tend to live longer and grow faster than other strains. They spawn later in fall and are not as susceptible to the fungus that takes other strains early in their life cycle. It will be interesting to see who gets bragging rights for the next record Brown Trout, Lake Michigan or Lake Ontario, but for now it's the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan.