It's likely what he was catching was dolly varden or bull trout and not lakers. All three species are char, but Cushman has a fair population of dollies.

When I was a kid, the paper would run a list of dollies caught each fall that was tremendous-- lots of fish over 10 pounds and some, as I recall, over 20.

I'm not saying that there aren't lakers there, but I would check things out pretty thoroughly before taking one home as I believe they're protected in Cushman as well as the N. Fork of the Skok.

Keith