In the Field and On the Trail

Caught by Joe on July 20, 2020, this young male Golden Trout became the Idaho State Catch-and-Release Record for the species.

As one might expect of someone so fascinated by small arms, the Managing Attorney is an avid outdoorsman. What one might not expect at first glance is that the Joe’s love of the outdoors in general - and fishing in particular - actually predates even his interest in firearms. Joe has successfully pursued every major species of freshwater game fish in the continental United States except for the Sander vitreus (Walleye), and on his quest to catch every species of trout and char in the Lower 48, the only species remaining are the Salvelinus alpinus (Arctic Char) S. oquassa (Blueback Char), Oncorhynchus gilae (Gila Trout), and O. apache (Apache Trout).

At the pinnacle of the Managing Attorney’s interest in fishing is the pursuit of the rarest trout in the United States, which only live at the highest altitudes in the wildest and most inaccessible wilderness areas in the country. Even reaching the habitats of these fish (it can take years of research even to find out their locations) - especially the waters where the largest individuals live - require days of hiking at and above the treeline, crossing glaciers, technical climbing, trail-less wilderness pathfinding and dead-reckoning, and extreme-elevation survival, all in the home ranges of the Ursus arctos horribilis (Grizzly Bear), Puma concolor couguar (North American Mountain Lion), and Canis lupus irremotus (Rocky Mountain Timber Wolf).

The equipment necessary to traverse and survive in such an environment, let alone fish for the wiliest and most evasive of the world’s game fish in it, means a heavy pack load, and on each of the dozens of expeditions Joe has made into the deep wilderness of the Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana’s mountains, Joe has carried a load of between 80 and 100 pounds, sometimes even more when he is guiding his wife and daughter, who are at least as fanatical about trout fishing as he is, and who each also hold world records themselves!

The main species that the Managing Attorney and his family pursue in these pristine environments is Oncorhynchus aguabonita: the Golden Trout, which is an exceedingly intelligent and careful game fish, even compared to other trout. Joe had also studied for years another species of salmonid that is so rare that it was believed extinct for roughly half a century. In the summer of 2023, he finally located and caught this ghost of the sport fish world: Salvelinus aureolus, given its scientific name after its brilliant golden spawning colors, and its common name after its original home water from which it went extinct in the 1920s: the Sunapee Trout.

The IGFA All-Tackle World Length Record Golden Trout, caught by Joe at 11,000’ on the morning of June 22, 2022.

The Managing Attorney has been blessed with the fantastically-good luck to have achieved two record catches in his fishing career. These milestones of his pastime are:

Idaho State Catch and Release Record, Golden Trout, July 20, 2020
International Game Fish Association (IGFA) All-Tackle World Length Record, Golden Trout, June 22, 2022

Just as with the topic of small arms, any client (or really anyone else) wanting to talk trout-fishing will have a very warm welcome from the Managing Attorney of the Law Office of Joseph P. Evans, PLC!