Lionel McLaughlin readily admits that his 11-year-old son, Carter, often out-catches him during their fishing excursions.
On Aug. 20, Carter not only earned bragging rights with his father, but throughout the state by catching a 5.24-pound Arctic charr, more commonly known as a blueback trout. The fish was big enough to break a 50-year-old record for the largest of its kind caught in Maine.
The McLaughlins, from Chapman, landed the large fish at Pushineer Pond near Debouille.
The previous state record-holder weighed 4 lbs., 4 ozs. and was caught by Merton Wyman at Basin Pond in 1958, according to Frank O. Frost, an assistant regional fisheries biologist based in Ashland for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Frost said Arctic charr are a rare fish, occurring in only 14 lakes and ponds scattered throughout the interior highlands in northern and western Maine and normally measure between 6 and 10 inches.
Contributed photo
CARTER MCLAUGHLIN, left, and his father, Lionel, show off the state-record blueback trout, caught Aug. 20.
