what is the biggest? the largest salmon ever caught or the largest trout ever caught. line fishing or nets both count

My guess is Salmon in the NW. One in Oregon was over 70 lbs.

Brown trout have been caught to about 80 lbs in Europe. Chinook have been caught in nets that weighed 125 lbs. Biggest steelhead was 42 lbs. There is some mongolian salmon that gets biggers than chinooks, and will take a surface fly.

Yes... the Taimen... I've read where some Russians fish for these trout with gophers as bait.

Taimen are probably the biggest of any trout/salmon (listed as Hucho Taimen, not sure where that classifies it) of the world. They can grow to over 200lbs and 7ft long. Interestingly, they never venture out of fresh water. As for fishing them, its a slow game. Because of their size there might be only 1 per mile of water. So when you do find one you might just get a couple casts before they spook and you're off to find another giant miles away.

http://www.combat-fishing.com/taimen.html

http://www.ultimaterivers.com/Taimen.htm

Taimen are awesome, and this is a little off the subject but if you want to see an incredible fish, do a search on Payara. Definitely not a member of the Salmon or Trout debate.

Whose ready for a trip to Venezuela?

the book "trout fishermans bible" says that it is the trout and that lake trout have been netted well in excess of 100 lbs. i dont know if it is right or not and it was printed sometime in the 80's i think. just thought it might be an interesting topic

I saw a pisture of a net caught chinook that some guy had on his knee. Was 5 feet long and weight over 135 or sumthin like that.