Dave Johnson of Duluth has been making fishing trips to Isle Royale on Lake Superior for 54 years, but he had never hooked a fish like the one he tied into on July 27.
Johnson, 73, caught a lake trout that weighed between 40 and 41 pounds that day - and then released it.
“It ranks right up there with catching a big sailfish,” Johnson said.
He caught it on a 7-inch blue and white spoon trolled at 43 feet, he said. It took Johnson half an hour to bring the fish up. The biggest lake trout he had caught at Isle Royale in the past was a 31-pounder. The 40-pounder wasn’t the only big fish of the recent trip.
“We caught a 30-pounder the next morning,” Johnson said. “Two weeks before, we caught four fish in the mid-20s.”
All of those lake trout were released, he said.
“The fishing (at Isle Royale) is as good or better than it ever has been,” Johnson said. “It’s Michigan waters, and they have a rule that you can keep only one fish over 34 inches. But most people have been letting all the big fish go anyway.”
Duluth angler takes 40-pound lake trout at Isle Royale
Dave Johnson of Duluth has been making fishing trips to Isle Royale on Lake Superior for 54 years, but he had never hooked a fish like the one he tied into on July 27.

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