Vietnam vet battles record lake trout ‘just like Wicked Tuna’
Keith Miller, a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran, set a state record in Pennsylvania by catching a 31-pound, 13-ounce lake trout on Lake Erie while fishing with God’s Grace Sport Fishing Charter.
They were fishing about three miles offshore from North East Marina on May 11 when Miller hooked the fish and knew it was huge, Erie News Now reported.
“I could tell it was a lot bigger than the ones we’d been catching,” Miller told Outdoor News Daily. “At first it was like dead weight, but then the fish started taking quite a bit of line and put up a really great fight.”
Charter skipper Lane Brown told USA Today/For the Win Outdoors it took Miller 20 minutes before getting it to the surface.
“Just like Wicked Tuna, sometimes Keith gained some line then the fish would take it all back,” Brown told For the Win Outdoors. “When it finally came to the surface all I could think was, `God please don’t let me screw up this net job.
“As soon as we got the fish in the boat we immediately weighed it in preparation to release it back to the lake. When my boat scale said almost 32 pounds, I knew we had a potential state-record fish on board if my scales were even close, so we threw it in the livewell and headed for shore.”
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Official weight and measurements were performed at Poor Richard’s Bait and Tackle where a state Fish Commission officer was on duty. It took about a week before the paperwork was processed by the state and the fish officially declared a state record. The lake trout stretched 40 inches.
“It was almost like one of those ‘You’ve got to be kidding me’ moments,” Miller told Outdoors News Daily. “We’re just out there fishing for fun and all of a sudden you might have a state record on your hands.”
The previous record, also caught in Lake Erie, was 29 pounds, 4 ounces taken in 2012.
Miller gave the fish to Poor Richard’s where it was placed in a freezer to preserve it so it can be replicated and mounted for display at the tackle shop.
Asked why he didn’t have it mounted himself, Miller told Erie News Now, “It’s better off if everybody can see it. I live alone. If I put it on my wall, me and the cat would be the ones looking at it. It’ll be better off to let everybody see the thing.”
Photo courtesy of Lane Brown and God’s Grace Sport Fishing.