“If he would have gotten me stuck on a limb coming down [stream], I would have lost that fish,” Hunsicker said. He explained that he’s caught several big trout from the Pohopoco as well as the other small creeks that connect with Beltzville Lake over the years.
Hunsicker ended up keeping the fish, which he said measured 31 7/8 inches with a 20 1/8-inch girth. It weighed 15 pounds, 11 ounces, according to the hand scale he had with him. That would make it roughly five ounces heavier than the standing Pennsylvania state-record rainbow, caught from Jordan Creek in 1986 by angler Dennis Clouse.
“It would have surpassed the record,” Hunsicker said, adding that he didn’t have enough time to take the fish in for official measurements.
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Still, he won’t forget that fish anytime soon. The large trout is now being mounted at his taxidermist, according to GoErie.