CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An afternoon of relaxing fishing with the wife turned into a memorable experience for a Kanawha County angler. John Terry of Gallagher, W.Va. was fishing several locations across the highlands of West Virginia and ended up at Seneca Lake for a fishing experience he would never forget.
“Just me and my wife were out for the weekend and went to Pocahontas County. We fished several different places and ended up at Seneca Lake and that’s where I was lucky enough to catch it,” said Terry in an interview for West Virginia Outdoors.
Terry hooked into the state record tiger trout for length. The fish was 29.13 inches, establishing the new record and besting the former record of 28.7 inches caught by Mike Connelly at Mason County’s Krodel Lake in 2011. The weight record stands at 12.55 pounds caught in 2025 by Robert Riggs at Mannington Lake in Marion County. At 11.04 pounds Terry’s big trout fell under the mark, but he believed it might have been close if it hadn’t taken so long to get it to an official set of scales.
“I had the record on weight and DNR didn’t get to weigh it until the next day and it has lost some,” he said.
Terry caught the fish with Panther Martin Spinner and four-pound test line.
“I didn’t really realize how big it was until I got it on the bank. I knew it was a big fish, but I didn’t know it was that big,” he laughed.
He had an audience, in fact at Natural Resources Police Officer patrolling Pocahontas County had just done a license check and was standing beside him when he caught the big trout.
“Yeah, he had just checked me. There were several people standing around and one guy said ‘That’s a state record I guarantee it,'” said Terry.
After putting the tape measure to the fish, he realized the guy might be right and started getting in touch with the right people with the help of the NRPO.
John had to put the fish in the refrigerator awaiting a chance to have it certified. He planned on mounting the fish or at least getting a replica mount.
“Like I said I really didn’t know how big it was until I got it on the bank. I got more nervous when it was on the bank than when I was actually catching it,” he laughed.