Rob, it was for sure the same fish all three times. I took a photo with me and compared to Yoshihide Nakae's fish photo. The scale patterns were identical. She was hooked on the point just North of the resort where Chris and I weighed and released her. Definitely caught alive. Not a floater (I hate rumors!). She's hanging on a wall in Japan now though. I'm sort of ambivalent 'cause its pretty clear she had lost her mind and was biting anything that came by. She was a gonner sooner or later. One interesting thing is that when I caught her, her belly was quite empty and soft yet she weighed only 3 oz less than in May.??? Wish she had been full! One 2lb trout and she would have weighed 20.
BTW - another fish you've probably seen before! See attached photo.