New Lake Burton Brown Trout Record

Not many people can say they have caught a lake record fish as an experienced angler, but 7-year-old Camden Rinckey can go ahead and check that off his bucket list. His 11-lb., 14-oz. brown trout is now the largest brown ever recorded from Lake Burton.

Camden was up before the crack of dawn with his father, Joel Rinckey, on the morning of May 26, 2018. Most kids his age dread getting up early, but Camden has no problem at all, especially with fishing involved.

“We usually start our day off super early,” said Joel. “I wake him up about 4:30 to go fishing. We were on the lake probably about 6:45. We’ve got kind of a routine.”

After hitting the lake, Joel and Camden dropped out some live herring on 6-lb. test lines with 8-lb. fluorocarbon leaders to keep the sharp-toothed pickerel from cutting them off. Not two minutes after the first line was dropped in, the rod went off. Joel immediately went for his phone to get video of Camden catching the fish.

“On Burton, if you’re in the right spot at the right time, the first fish is generally the biggest fish,” said Joel.

Joel wanted to chronicle this moment for Camden. He told his son to grab the rod and start fighting the fish, and he began recording what turned out to be a 7-minute fight.

Camden was apparently pretty prepared for the battle. The previous year, he caught a 9-lb. brown trout that is now on the wall at his house. He has caught a 9-lb. bass out of Burton, as well.

“We knew it was a big fish just from how many we’ve caught up there,” said Joel. “We’ve caught a ton of 7- to 8-pounders, and I just knew that this fish was special just from how it was running.”

Camden reeled the fish in the boat and Joel realized it has to be close to the Lake Burton record. It was all smiles and excitement after that, as seen in the attached video.

“When he was a year and half, he caught his first fish,” said Joel. “He’s caught more fish than most grown men.”

If Camden keeps this up, he could end up with numerous record fish by the time he reaches his dad’s age.

Camden’s brown trout was weighed on certified scales and was verified at the Lake Burton Hatchery facility. It beat the previous record by 10 ounces.

GON keeps official lake and river records for most all major lakes and rivers in Georgia, and all records are online.