Sandpoint grade-schooler catches record trout

By Reader Staff

The Idaho fishing record books better make room for the spunk and creativity of 8-year-old Sandpoint girl Sophie Egizi, who reeled in a new catch-and-release record for Gerrard rainbow trout on Lake Pend Oreille in October — a trout she named “Old Man Sparkles” before sending him back into the drink.

Sandpoint girl Sophie Egizi poses with her record-breaking fish — who she named Old Man Sparkles — and Pend Oreille Charters Captain Bob Wiley. Photo by Robert Egizi, courtesy of Idaho Fish and Game.

The 36.5-inch fish annihilated a record previously held by fellow Sandpoint youngster Miles Landis, who caught his fish — a considerably smaller 14 inches — last November.

According to a Nov. 1 news release from Idaho Fish and Game announcing Egizi’s record, Gerrard rainbow trout in Idaho are unique to the Clark Fork River drainage and are listed as a separate trout species in the record books because of their trophy sizes.

Egizi caught Old Man Sparkles while trolling flies on an outing with Pend Oreille Charters.