A Birthday Fish in Colorado

[Vagabond]

"You are not fly-fishing the Colorado High Country streams tomorrow" said Norma.

 

"What ?"

 

"No, it's your birthday, and you are having a day after Mackinaws on Lake Blue Mesa - I've booked a boat and a guide - no arguments"

 

"Who's arguing?"

 

So there we were, Big Game fishing in miniature - not aboard a Bertram 33, but perched on a pontoon boat, trailing lead-core lines with enormous plugs attached , cold beer in the eskie, Tex-Mex pickled sausages in the lunch box, a glorious blue-bird day (as the Americans call it), and brown trout of a pound or so hitting the lures every so often. These fish were not what we were after, however, so back they all went. Most were standard browns, but Norma had one of the Scottish Loch Leven strain - no red spots, but silvery with black star-shaped spots on the sides. Loch Levens were amongst the first trout imported into North America and I was told this form was now quite rare, as stocking is now done mainly with standard browns.

 

What we were after was the Mackinaw or Great Lake Trout, Salvelinus namaycush, which, as you can deduce from the Latin name, is really a charr. They run up to over 30 lb in Blue Mesa, but the big ones are uncommon. The morning's trailing produced only browns, so out came the jigging rods, and we set to in one of the deep flooded canyons in Blue Mesa.

 

Soon I had a tremendous pull - the rod arching and nodding furiously. I pumped the fish up, Eric, our guide, picked up the net. "It's a good 'un" he shouted (as if I needed telling) The clutch yielded line as the fish made redoubled efforts on seeing the net, but soon he stopped running, and again I pumped the fish nearer " there he is " said Eric, and I saw him reach down……..

 

"Gone !" Just as suddenly, nothing there. The hook-hold had given way - there followed the usual few seconds of numbed disbelief one always gets when a big fish comes off for no apparent reason. Fred J Taylor used to say, with a wry grin, "That fell orrf, mate" Too right it did………..

 

No good just sitting there - get jigging again ! Eric had had a good sighting of the fish in the clear water and estimated it as about fifteen pounds. As he had proved pretty knowledgeable in every other aspect, there is no reason to doubt that figure - behind Eric, I couldn't see the fish myself, but it certainly felt that sort of weight.

 

Jigging produced no further takes, so it was back to trailing again in the late afternoon. Another hit, and something better than a one-pound brownie this time. This fish fought savagely all the way to the boat, but stayed on the hook until Eric swung the net neatly aboard. My first Mackinaw - a beautiful deep sage green, marbled all over with roundish white blotches, and with the dark green lower fins having milky-white leading edges. A deeply forked tail at one end and a business-like set of jaws, reminiscent of Ferox trout, at the front. Not as big as the lost fish, but just under five pounds.

 

" The best size for eating" said Eric as he bundled the fish into a big cool box, " would you like me to flay him for you ?" We knew what he meant, but the word "flay" seemed strange - in English it means just to remove the skin. . On questioning, it seems he had said "fillay" ie the French pronunciation of "fillet" - fascinating. The two words obviously come from the same root. Bill Bryson is not the only one to take an interest in the origins of American English!

 

The two very large skinned fillets Eric produced we took to a local restaurant to have cooked for an evening meal - as is our usual practice when touring without cooking facilities. In fact we took them to two restaurants - at the first place the "manageress" had stuck her little nose in the air and said in her best "Jobsworth" voice "It's against regulations" "OK lady, have a nice day" (this was one of only two dud outfits we came across in the entire trip).

 

Better luck at the second eatery (and why shouldn't I tell y'all this was "The Trough" in Gunnison ? Good service deserves publicity) - "Certainly sir, how would you like it cooked?"

 

Consulted their menu - the chef's special was Salmon Almondine - baked with almonds and fresh herbs. That sounded good, so we opted for Mackinaw Almondine. An excellent meal, as much fish as we could eat, beautifully served and garnished, with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc - followed by coffee as by then we could not eat another morsel.

 

A perfect end to a perfect day. A good toothsome fish caught and stowed under my belt. A better fish lost. A perfect excuse for going back again.

 

[ 27 May 2002, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]

[SAMTENCH]

good story mate. thanks i enjoyed it and good luck next time you go maybe you will get that 15 pounder.