A Hillbilly story!

[Ziptrev]

I had to go back to Used Tackle of Hucknall today (problem with a reel, my fault, but swapped straight away, Thanks Roger!)

AND 'Big Dave' was in

Now , Hillbilly is always pushing me to ask this Big Guy about
The $13 million fish, so I posed the question.

In truth, he looked blank, denied all knowledge of the Hillbilly , or the fish in question!

But, then he grinned and said, 'Now if you'd asked me about "Horizontal" Ron Horton' (thereby hangs another tale) 'And a '75 fishing trip to Fontaindelle' (I'm struggling for spelling on these place names Hilbilly)' I would hsve told you this!'

It Transpired that around 1975, Big Dave and Horizontal were living together in Wyoming.
I dont know whether Horizontal was married to Beryl then or not!

So these Guys fished the 'Green River' and both caught a fish!
One of these fish was a male and the other was a female, (don't ask me the difference, or how they knew?)
Neither guy recognised the species, but they were clearly game fish.
Made good eating too, by Big Daves account, but Horizontal was disturbed by not knowing just what he had caught!

Somehow, and just how it came about, I am unclear of, The 2 guys found themselves relating their tale to an official of Wyoming State, who's concern was Wildlife and Fisheries.

On hearing the tale, he produced an illustrated book on fishes and Horizontal eagerly looked through it and exclaimed with glee 'That's it!' as he came upon the likeness of the mystery fish!
The official went white and turned to Dave for confirmation, which he readily gave as he was in full concurrence!

'Male and Female huh?' The lads nodded in agreement!

'You know what this means?' This time heads were shaken in disagreement!

'Expense' croaked the official.

At that time the U.S. of A. had a very strict conservation policy in force, although economics have diluted it somewhat recently by all accounts.

The fish in question turned out to be a previously unheard of species in the Green river.

Because a pair had been caught, legislation meant, that to encourage their breeding, a series of special Salmon Run ladders had to be built along the entire lenth of the Green River and allowing bypass of the Fontaindelle Dam at a cost to the citizens of Wyoming, that reached 13 million Dollars!!!

All because 2 Brit boys went fishing and gave birth to the Tale of the 13 Million Dollar Fish

The name of the Fish was the Canocan Salmon or similar
(Now if we could only find Horizontal Ron Horton, we could get the correct name and perhaps hear why he was called Horizontal?

How about it Hillbilly?

Cheers

Trev

Ziptrev Shouldn't happen to a DOG!

 

[Guest]

$13m for a fish supper!!! and heres me thinking that our fish shops were expensive 2odd for fish and chips.
Horizontal thats more than likely the way he was when he found out the cost of the dam.
Hillbilly how are the stocks in the river now of the 13m fish???
Nice one Trev
Cya mate

i'm going to bait up
Andy

 

[n/a2]

Hi, Zippy, glad to see Big Dave's memory is still sharp after all these years. The fish he and his companion caught were Kokanee Salmon, the freshwater version of the Coho or Pacific Salmon. It's quite easy to tell the difference between cock and hen fish (still got the photos somewhere). They were fishing below the dam at Fontenelle reservior on the Green River in Wyoming. They reported their catch to the fish and game warden who didn't believe them but agreed their description fitted the Kokanee Salmon. The salmon had been stocked in the Flaming Gorge Reservior which is about 70 miles downstream of Fontenelle years previously. A few had been caught in the lake but none in the river. It was thought they had dissapeared. (I'm not surprised, the lake is about 60-70 miles long and up to 20 miles wide). The following week the fish and game people flew a plane along the river between the 2 lakes and spotted over 20 spawning redds. This was reported in the local paper.

Dave and his companion left Wyoming shortly after for greener pastures (the Green River area is desert). A few years later said companion visited Green River and drove up to the old fishing hole. A fish ladder had been built to allow the salmon to pass over the damn and gain access to the headwaters. It was said to have cost 13 million bucks. (I'm sure it would have been cheaper to simply stock the Fontenelle Reservior with salmon).

Big Dave and his companion only lived in Wyoming for a few years but shared many adventures (ask Dave about "THE GRAVE").

As for Horizontal Ron....never heard of him.

Hillbilly.

 

[Ziptrev]

Well Hillbilly!
Some tale and I hope you enjoyed my attempt at getting the facts!
Dave's memory is probably going with the damp English Climate? (and I was heavily into persuading Roger to swap my reel, whilst hearing the story!)

Hope also that the presentation appealed,as Frank Carson used to say

'I'ts the way I tell'em!'

Now , for the full truth?

If only we could find Horizontal Ron!!!!!

The Grave! huh!, I wonder.....

Trev

Ziptrev

Shouldn't happen to a DOG!