Free Fishing Day - Invite Beginners Saturday, June 8

[RonPaulFan]

Article on KSL:

https://www.ksl.com/article/46559457/ann...it-or-gear

Free Fishing Day means to most of us that we seek to fish far from the crowds or skip that day.

But, to me, it means fishing in the most crowded places and being sharing with tackle, lures and helpfulness.

It's also a chance to find that special single young lady for me who likes fishing. My profile picture is from Free Fishing Day at Willow Pond. It's the most unusual fish I've caught -- A 13-1/2" Goldfish! The red hair to the left of the cropped picture is of an attractive young lady who was "catch and release only."

If you have family or friends who don't fish or don't think they will enjoy it enough to buy equipment and a fishing license, then Free Fishing Day is the day to plan a fishing trip with them to introduce them to the sport we enjoy.
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[catchinon]

You're a good man, Ron. Thanks for repping us at this event.
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[EyLayo]

Your goldfish catch makes much more sense to me now. Over the holiday I was talked into buying an aquarium and fish for my youngsters. I originally picked up a nice, medium sized tank. I figured it would be more than adequate for 3 1" fish with some room to grow. The employee quickly informed me that I was way off base. He said just one of my new1" fish would reach 14" or so in a year or two, and that my tank would be too small for 1 in a matter of months. I can easily see this ending in a family dumping fish that have outgrown their tanks in a local pond. Not wanting to kill their pets, but also not willing to upsize their tanks. Now the question is why a supposed aquarium fish chased down your crankbait?
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[RonPaulFan]

I've always heard different in that the fish stay small in a small aquarium and only get a little larger in a large aquarium, but very big in a pond and living in nature eating as they would in nature instead of flake fish food.

Interestingly, DWR official Tonya Kiefer asked years later upon hearing my story what I did with the goldfish. Not knowing better, I said I put it back unharmed because I respected that it was probably loved as someone's pet. She looked quite frustrated and said that the goldfish was invasive and didn't belong there.

Years later, I saw what was most likely my goldfish jump about three feet into the air out in the middle of Willow Pond and it seemed to be much larger. I've seen hawks scoop up and fly off with fairly large fish, but I suspect the goldfish is now too large to be caught that way. I suspect it's still there, but haven't fished there for many years.

Actually, my fishing in both Sandy and Willow Ponds wasn't really with fishing intent as I was using the pier and the clarity of the water to observe the movement of various lures at various speeds and match lures to my many different rods and practice.

Most of the lures I practiced with there were inappropriately large for actually catching the tiny planter trout and occasionally a pesky tiny one would actually get caught on a lure almost it's size.

I learned how to control swim bait well and that proved very valuable for real fishing in the reservoirs where I favored fishing weeds and sticks and rocks. My precise casts and control of the swimbait was instrumental to getting it to swim past the right spots that hold fish yet not get caught in the rocks and sticks.

Related article:

https://www.ksl.com/article/25110783/hun...leys-creek
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