On the weekend of July fourth, 2025, Benjamin Ferguson caught a record-breaking brook trout while fishing a remote pond on a three-day canoe trip. The previous record was set in 2013 by Rick Beauchamp with a six-pound brook trout; Ferguson’s new record fish beat the previous record by three ounces.
In an interview with Brian Connor of Big Woods Bucks, Ferguson opened up about his record-setting catch.
Three-day canoe trip yields new state record Brook trout
The pursuit of record brook trout in New York is made unique by the inherent challenge of the best brook trout habitat; superior spots are often miles deep into the woods and difficult to access. In the case of the brook trout of Adirondack ponds, that big effort is sometimes met with big reward.
“We were on a three-day fishing trip and we had a couple of tough days of fishing, and we were just sitting on the pond trolling around and I happened to hook into a trout,” Ferguson said in the interview, adding that the fish was a 2.5-pounder and the group was plenty thrilled with that catch as is. They released that fish and went back out.
From here, Ferguson went on to fish in a spot where he hadn’t caught a fish before– then, his record-setting brookie bit.
“I could actually hear the rod holder rattling on the gunnel when it bit,” said Ferguson. “It was pretty intense… it was probably close to a five-minute fight.”
Ferguson explained that on his first attempt to net the fish he missed, but when he got his first good look it was clear this was no ordinary brook trout.
“This is a lot bigger than anything I’ve ever seen before… so I loosened the drag a little bit and tried to play him out some more and just hope my leader doesn’t break or I don’t have a heart attack, one of the two,” shared Ferguson in the interview. “We threw the scale on it and said oh my god we’ve got something here.”
Securing the New York brookie state record
In order to preserve the brook trout overnight Ferguson and his friend filled one of their boats with a little bit of water and put the fish inside, tying it off and floating it in the pond to protect it from predators. The next morning, the anglers woke early to take the trout in to be weighed.
In order to get their record certified, they needed to weigh the fish on a certified scale and eventually took the fish to Washington D.C. to confirm the record and differentiate the fish from a splake–a brook trout and lake trout hybrid produced only in the hatchery environment.
While catching a record-setting brookie was a lifelong goal of Ferguson’s, Ferguson said in the interview that he’s excited to get back out there and experience fishing more remote ponds. Ferguson also shared that he is generally out fishing brook trout every weekend from ice out on, fishing from a 10-foot Hornbeck Classic packboat that he paddles with a double-bladed kayak paddle with rod holders mounted on either side.
