![32-Year-Old Brook Trout Record Falls in Va.]( "32-Year-Old Brook Trout Record Falls in Va.")
Blake Deal (left) and Thomas Garth. (Photos courtesy of Virginia Department of Game and Inshore Fisheries)
The Virginia Department of Game and Inshore Fisheries have certified two new state fishing records so far this season.
The agency reported new records for brook trout (hook and line) and longnose gar (bow fishing), according to a press release.
The new brook trout record was caught March 12 by Thomas Garth on Cub Run in page County. The fish weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 20 1/4 inches long. He caught the trout with a fly rod baited with a minnow as bait.
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The fish was officially weighed at Martin’s Grocery in Harrisonburg, Va. and verified by a state biologist. The previous record weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces caught by Greg Orndorff in 1987 from Big Stony Creek.
Blake Deal from Nathalie, Va., arrowed a 21-pound, 13-ounce longnose gar with archery gear at Lake Gaston in Mecklenburg County. The fish measured 48 ¾ inches in length with a girth of 19 inches.
The fish was officially weighed at Bobcat’s Bait and Tackle in Clarksville, Va. The previous record (19-4) was set in 2016 by Jonathan Owen and equaled last year by Joseph Baer.