A MONSTER Chinook salmon approaching a metre in length was recently caught at Lake Bullen Merri, Victoria.
The lucky angler was Terry Sheppard of Knoxfield, Victoria. “I’ve been fishing a long time and caught a lot of big fish, but this one was so big I couldn’t straighten my arm when holding it,” he says.
“It was so magnificent, I had to let it go and it swam away shortly after I took a selfie.”
“The photo doesn’t do it justice but it was almost a metre long and easily the largest Chinook I’ve ever seen!”
The Crater Lakes are renowned for producing trophy Chinook salmon going back to the 1940s, with the record Chinook salmon over 25 pound and 96 cm in length.
In 1980, Henry Rantall caught a 23 pound Chinook salmon from Lake Bullen Merri and it’s skin still hangs in the Camperdown Angling Club clubrooms for all visitors to see.
In 2012 Chinook salmon stocking recommenced, and in 2016 salmon over 10 pound were caught in both Lake Bullen Merri and Lake Purrumbete.
Last year Jason Castles of Sunbury caught a 18 pound Chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete.
The last few weeks has again seen fantastic catches of trophy fish from the Crater Lakes. Will we see Terry’s big fish again? We can only hope!
To read more about the work gone into restoring trophy Chinook salmon at the crater lakes, click HERE.
