GUNNISON COUNTY — Don Walker reeled in more than he was expecting during a typical fishing trip at Blue Mesa Resevoir on May 23 when he found a state record size fish on the end of his line.
After a 25 minute struggle and a good netting effort by his wife, Paula, the 61-year-old Florence, Colo. resident laid his eyes on a 50 pound, 5 ounce lake trout that measured 44 1/4 inches long.
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"Fish of that size are pretty extraordinary, and they don't come along that often," said southwest region Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Joe Lewandowski. He noted that due to the unpredictability of fishing, "someone might catch another one next year or even this summer."
Walker caught the fish in 40-foot deep water in an area of the reservoir near Soap Creek. He was using a technique known as jigging, in which the fisherman bounces a tube jig along the bottom of the lake.
"I've been fishing over there for a long time, so when it hit I knew I had a big fish on," said Walker, in a DOW press release.
After bringing the mackinaw in, Walker put the fish on a scale on his boat and saw that it weighed 50 pounds. He checked the weight on shore and then brought his prize catch to the Gunnison DOW office where the trout's record size was verified by a DOW wildlife officer.
Blue Mesa is the ideal environment for trout to grow to such a monstrous size because the elevation of the reservoir and its variance in depth allow for an abundance of food at all levels of the food chain.
"At that level the water stays cold for trout and salmon, but it warms up so that it also encourages the growth of the plankton in the water," said Lewandowski.
The plankton allows kokanee salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout to flourish in the reservoir, which in turn provides food for lake trout. Lake trout's role as a predator results in the DOW encouraging fishermen to capture them, a policy to which some object.
"A lot of people think that the eight fish limit is too high," said Lewandowski. "If people aren't catching and keeping those lake trout, they can devaste the prey base."
Walker is currently in the process of having the mackinaw mounted. He said that this feat has required much dedication, along with a fair share of luck.
"We've sat out there many days and haven't caught any fish. You've got to have a lot of patience and be at the right place at the right time," Walker said.
John Deneen can be reached via e-mail at
johnd@montrosepress.com.
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