It was cold that May 2 morning when brothers Dylan and Coyton Smith launched their Competitor FSX 185 Alumacraft boat into 5,000-acre Payette Lake near the town of McCall, Idaho.
Dylan, a 35-year-old engineer from Idaho Falls, and his brother were targeting big lake trout. And the duo got into them right away.
“It was below freezing that morning when we started — we had ice in our fishing guides,” Dylan told Wired2fish. “My brother made the first cast and he caught a lake trout right away.”
Lifelong Fishing Buddies
The brothers are lifelong fishing companions and have chased lake trout seriously for many years. Dylan said they’ve honed their skills on choice laker waters such as Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah, and only rare fish in Payette Lake.
Through years of trial and error, and constantly fishing deep water for lakers and other trout, Dylan and Coyton have learned much about how to both find and catch big lakers.
“We want big jig-like, soft plastic lures that look like kokanee salmon, which lakers feed on,” Dylan explained. “Ours are hybrid-type lures that we’ve developed and don’t talk about much. They’re kind of a ‘Frankenstein’-type lure to match the forage targets of lakers.”
Dylan described the lures as weighing about three ounces, bring silver-dark in color, and varying from six to 10 inches in length.
Landing Lots of Lakers All Day
That morning on Payette, they were fishing near bottom in 60 feet of clear water. The brothers were hovering over a flat on a main lake point, using the spot lock on their electric motor for boat control.
“Using sonar, I look for schools of lakers,” said Dylan. “For big fish, I want just small schools of two or three fish that I call ‘wolf packs.’ The biggest lake trout usually are in little schools. When there are six, eight, or 10 fish in a school, they’re usually smaller trout.”
That day, the brothers caught about 18 lake trout, with some weighing 15 to 20 pounds.
That evening, Coyton caught a laker they measured at 43 inches. His fish would have topped the state catch-and-release laker record of 42 inches, which Aaron Goettsche caught in June 2025, also from Payette Lake.
“We measured Coyton’s fish. I told him it was a record, and he said ‘Cool — release it,’” Dylan recalled. “My brother cares nothing about records. All he wanted was to catch the fish and release it healthy.”
Reclaiming the Record
Later that evening, Dylan hooked a big laker, brought it to their boat, and Coyton dipped it up in their oversize and rubberized landing net. They quickly measured the fish at 43.25 inches, big enough for a state record — and it would have topped Coyton’s 43-inch fish he’d caught earlier.
“My fish was out of the water for just 15 seconds, so we could get back fast for a good live release,” Dylan said. “My brother was glad I caught the fish, which is now recognized as the state catch-and-release laker record.”
Goettsche’s 42-inch laker caught last year topped Dylan’s first state record catch-and-release lake trout from eight years ago. Dylan’s fish caught in 2018 measured 40 inches long. His 43.25-inch laker is currently holding Idaho’s top catch-and-release spot for the species, but such records often fall.
“My first Idaho laker record stood for eight years and when I caught that fish, Aaron was happy for me,” said Dylan. “Aaron’s a great fisherman, a good dude, and I hope he breaks my new record laker.”
