Castlegar Man Catches the World’s Largest Kokanee…and Eats it

In the summer 2017 issue of Kootenay Mountain Culture magazine I wrote about the strange story of Castlegar, British Columbia, angler Denis Woodcox who landed a huge salmon on Lower Arrow Lake. He promptly ate the fish and then realized he might have just consumed the world’s largest Kokanee salmon. He took the carcass to the government for DNA testing and the results came in a month after the story ran. You won’t believe the results. Here’s the tale.

The staff at Mountain Culture Group just heard from fish biologist Matt Neufeld of BC’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations regarding the DNA test of a fish that was landed on Lower Arrow Lakes. The results confirmed that the fish in question was indeed a Kokanee salmon. Other testing revealed the Kokanee was seven years old and weighed 12.1 pounds (5.4 kg). That’s almost three pounds bigger than the Kokanee caught by Ron Campbell of Pendleton, Oregon, on Wallowa Lake in 2010, which is the official world record according to the International Game Fish Association.

Despite the DNA confirmation, Denis will never be awarded with an official designation because, well, he ate the results. To read the story in its entirety, visit: mountainculturegroup.com/castlegar-man-catches-the-worlds-largest-kokanee-and-eats-it.