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‘Monster' fish from reservoir too big for net
By Michael Johnson
This document was published online on Monday, June 02, 2008
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| Troy Jones caught a 33-pound lake trout May 17 in Buffalo Bill Reservoir. The fish measured 42 inches long and required three people to get it into the boat. (Photo by Ken Blackbird) |
Troy Jones reeled in the surprise of his life during a recent fishing trip on Buffalo Bill Reservoir.
Jones, chief of the Cody Volunteer Fire Department, pulled in a 33-pound lake trout at 11 a.m. May 17 - the second big fish in three months that's been caught at Buffalo Bill.
“It's a lunker,” he said.
The fish measured 42 inches with a 26-inch girth.
Jones and two others were fishing for lake trout when he felt a violent tug on the line.
“We were in a boat jigging for lake trout using South Fork flies,” Jones said. “We used those with sucker meat in about 45 feet of water - and caught the big one.”
Jones said it took them 15 minutes to land the monster.
“It was a powerhouse - a fighter,” he said.
“I talked to Game and Fish warden Craig Sax and he said it was the biggest one he's seen come out of Buffalo Bill Reservoir,” he added. “That made me pretty happy.”
Randy Merritt of Cody caught a 30-pound lake trout while ice fishing on the reservoir Feb. 18.
G&F fisheries biologist Jason Burckhardt, who works on the reservoir, said at that time there are other large lake trout in Buffalo Bill.
“We've got a booming lake trout population,” Burckhardt said. “We've sampled several in that size class.”
The biologist said lake trout are a voracious predatory species, which is why they are being eliminated from Yellowstone Lake where they eat prized native Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
“They are predators,” Burckhardt said. “There's quite a large biological cost to that fish.”
Jones said he's caught big fish in the past, but nothing quite like this one.
“This was more thrilling because I wasn't using a chair,” he said. “I was using a regular spinning rod and 10-pound fishing line. It was pretty exciting.”
Jones said the fish was so big it wouldn't fit into the net.
“The two guys with me helped lift it into the boat,” he said.
“It's a pretty remarkable fish,” he added. “We were looking for the big ones. We caught 30-40 fish before we caught the big one.”
It didn't help that the boat Jones was driving ran out of gas on the way back to the dock.
“We had to be towed back to shore,” he said. “That was kind of a bummer. We didn't get a chance to weigh the fish for about two hours. Sax said it probably lost a couple of pounds in that time.”
Jones already has a place reserved at his home for the monster.
“I just finished my basement,” he added.
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shane scheid wrote on Jun 3, 2008 12:20 PM:
Thank you to the Cody Enterprise for the "tip". I guess I know where I will be this weekend...trying to keep up with the Jones' "