Anthony Falato reeled in at big one Saturday afternoon, the first day of trout season in Pennsylvania.
The 12-pound, 6-ounce Palomino or golden trout, is about one pound, 2 ounces shy of the state record.
Falato says he had been on the bank of the Little Lehigh Creek in Allentown for two hours, when he hooked the fish. It took 12 minutes, to reel it in.
"I had no net," said Anthony Falato. "I really don't fish and use the net, because I really like to catch them and throw them back in. But when I caught this monster, I knew I had to keep it."
Of course it did not get away. Falato wrestled the fish into a borrowed net.
He says his catch of a lifetime will be mounted and proudly displayed.