One Flathead Valley angler got a present he’ll never forget on his traditional birthday fishing trip to Little Bitterroot Lake.

“It’s become an annual tradition to fish for big rainbows in Little Bitterroot Lake on my birthday,” said Keith Brown, of Lakeside.

Brown, who has fished Little Bitterroot Lake for two decades, started fishing May 12 at 8 a.m., catching nothing until 5:30 p.m. when something hit one of the lines he was trolling off his planer board.

“The fish didn’t even break the rubber band I was using for a line release clip,” said Brown. “I jerked hard a few times to try to break the line loose.”

Brown actually thought he’d caught a small rainbow trout.

“The fish didn’t fight that hard,” he said. “It just sorta swam along with the line as I reeled.”

My fishing partner Kenny yelled, “I think that’s a kokanee!”

The fish amped up its fight when it got close to the boat. Four or five netting attempts were needed to net the fish.

“In the boat, we measured the fish at 27 inches and 7.8 pounds,” Brown said. “Earlier in the day, we’d been looking at the state fish records, and we’d seen 26.8 inches and 7.85 pounds (Hauser Lake, 2010), so we knew we were close.”

Brown removed his shirt, soaked it, and wrapped it around the fish.

“We fished until dark, then drove to Rosauer’s where they weighed it on a check-out scale,” he said. “Even with part of the fish off the scale, the first reading was 7.86 pounds. That’s when we hit each other with high-fives. Closer examination showed a 7.086 reading.”

Brown then took the kokanee salmon to Smith’s deli, where it was measured at 28 inches, 7.12 pounds.

The following Monday, the fish was taken to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 offices, where a few scales were removed for age determination. The fish’s gut was empty.

According to Brown, the kokanee was taken in the middle of the lake on a self-tied fly he has “worked several years to develop.”

Interestingly, the fish is a quarter-inch longer than the current world record (Wallowa Lake, Oregon, 2010), which weighed 9.67 pounds.

Brown’s kokanee is currently at a taxidermist and will join former Little Bitterroot Lake residents, a 25-pound and 18 pound rainbow in a display mount.