Within an hour of arriving on the Tagish Bridge, a Whitehorse man was reeling in the biggest fish he'd ever caught: a 38-pound lake trout.

"Biggest fish I ever seen, let alone catch," hobby fisherman Fintain Young said Tuesday about the 106-centimetre catch.

"His head's bigger than mine, for God's sake," he told the Star.

Young began fishing in Tagish Lake more than 25 years ago.

"I think from day one, I got lucky, and I've been fishing there ever since," he said.

Just as he does every weekend, Young set up his line on the Tagish Bridge at about 11:30 p.m. last Friday. Nights are best for fishing because the fish start moving around once the sun goes down, he said.

When a friend noticed his fishing rod moving, Young set his drag "and he just started pulling really hard," he said about the fish.

"He is so strong," said Young. "He'll take the rod right out of your hand."

After about 45 minutes of fighting with the fish, Young had finally dragged it to the shallow waters, but because of the enormity of his catch, he had trouble bringing it all the way to shore.

"His body was just making a trench, dragging in the soft sand," said Young.

Two men tried to assist him with a dip net, but the weight of the fish destroyed it.

Then, grabbing the fish with their hands, the men "pushed and kicked and squabbled," dragging it to shore, said Young.

Just by tugging on the line, he knew the fish was large, "but I didn't realize he was this big," said Young.

The average lake trout weighs between seven and 10 pounds and measures about 60 centimetres in length, said senior biologist Nathan Miller of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

"There's only about a dozen fish of this size that we've seen" in the Yukon, he said Tuesday.

Based on other fish of this size he has seen, Miller estimates this fish to be a female between 30 and 50 years old. Approximately 70 per cent of the fish caught in Tagish Lake are females, since they are more actively searching for food, he said.

"I did feel sad for him, knowing how big he was," Young said about the fish, but added he felt the need to keep it.

"If I was to release him, I'd give him a half-hour and he'd be belly-up in the water," said Young.

His plans for his prize lie in taxidermy.

"The best eatin' ones are anywhere from five to seven pounds," he said, so for his big catch, Young will "mount him and put him on my wall."

He will not be going fishing any time soon, because after spreading the word about his luck last weekend, all his friends are planning fishing trips to the lake.

"I don't think I'll get a spot on the bridge," he said.