Georgia State Record Brown Trout

Editor’s Note: Chad Doughty was in September 2023 convicted and sentenced to life in prison for molesting a family member.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/man-given-3-life-sentences-plus-30-years-prison-after-molesting-young-family-member-da-says/3I7OVPBYTVHHVJFNLC7HZQ3G4M/

The DNR press release below was written in 2014 when the fish was caught.

Catching a big fish is awesome, how about if the first fish you catch that day is a new state record?

Chad Doughty, age 27, of Winder hooked and battled the new state record brown trout for about 45 minutes while fishing from a kayak on the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam on July 27.

Chad Doughty, of Winder, with his 31-inch long brown trout that crushed the Georgia state record by more than 2 pounds. Chad’s trout, caught in the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam, was weighed on certified scales at 20-lbs., 14-ozs.

Doughty, using a Rooster Tail with spinning tackle on 6-lb. test line, even had to abandon his kayak to run down the fish as his spinning reel almost ran out of line.

According to DNR, this 20-lb., 14-oz., 31 1/2-inch catch beat the existing state record, established in 2001 by 2-lbs., 8-ozs.

Being that it was his first fish of the day, Mr. Doughty wanted to keep fishing. His co-anglers convinced him that he might have a new state record, so off they went to seek certified scales (scales certified by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, often found in marinas, grocery stores and at Georgia DNR Fisheries Offices).