After an epic 35-minute battle that took him on a 500-yard hike down the Mad River, 17-year-old Roy Heape of Oroville, CA joined an elite club this week when he caught & released this 22-pound, 11-ounce wild buck steelie.

The big fish was going to be just a good fish tale for the kid because he didn’t have a camera with him at the time. Luckily, Jason Ford of Petaluma happened to be fishing nearby and snapped a couple photos of the youngster and his monster buck.

And by the way, the biggest steelhead of Heape’s career prior to this fish? How about 2 pounds!!

Maybe I’m a little jaded these days, but methinks Mr. Heape may want to retire now…it’s going to be tough to top that one!