06-11-2004, 12:34 AM
This is a story from the Idaho F&G Website.
Ririe - When Lee Davison of Rigby decided to take his WWII Veteran father out on Ririe Reservoir to celebrate Memorial Day, little did he know that he would be the one ending up with something memorable to celebrate. Not only did he land the new Idaho state record splake, but he did so using the most basic of tackle and gear!
The splake (Salvelinus fontinalis x Salvelinus namaycush) is a hatchery-produced hybrid created by taking the roe (eggs) of a brook trout and having them fertilized with the milt (sperm) of a lake trout. The result is a sterile hybrid, renowned as a fish-eating machine. IDFG attempted a program during the nineties of planting splake in waters such as Ririe and Island Park Reservoirs that were experiencing a boom in rough fish species such as Utah chubs & suckers. Unfortunately, the general slow growth rate of the splake led to the cessation of the splake stocking program. The fish that Davison caught at 10 pounds, three ounces was probably one of the original fish planted in Ririe Reservoir in the early nineties and is a testament to the size that splake can attain in the long run.
The previous Idaho state record was a four-pound, eight-ounce splake caught in the Panhandle back in 1996. Davison was not targeting splake during his outing. "As we were coming back in I just picked up a little Zebco 33 and stuck a 1/8 ounce white Rooster Tail on it and flicked it out. I was hoping to maybe get a kokanee or a smallmouth," said Davison. The reel was rigged with eight-pound test line and it took him about 10 minutes to land the fish.
While Davison's parents watched on, Davison's wife Nancy grabbed the landing net and jumped into the fray. As Davison was playing the fish he knew something strange was going on. According to Davison, "It fought like a smallmouth, but I could see the colored fin tips like a brookie." Once the 28-inch fish was safely on the dock, Davison was pretty sure he had landed a splake. "Not only were the fins colored like a brook trout, but it had the worm-like patterning on the back and the big, broad, shallow-forked tail.
Because Davison is an experienced sportsman and knows a trophy when he sees one, he held off cleaning the fish and instead headed to the local Broulims supermarket in Rigby to have the fish weighed on a certified scale. He also took a picture of the fish right after it was caught, so that the taxidermist would know exactly what the fish looked like and could do the coloration justice, once the object of piscatorial pride was mounted.
Though Davison is an experienced angler, fishing guide, outfitter and high-end fishing equipment sales representative, he showed that getting out with family and fishing just for fun using whatever gear is on hand can yield a wide variety of benefits. While his record probably bears little threat of being eclipsed in the near future, the warm memories generated by the adventure will definitely last for years to come.
[url "http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/news/releases/view.cfm?NewsID=2118"]http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/news/releases/view.cfm?NewsID=2118[/url]
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Ririe - When Lee Davison of Rigby decided to take his WWII Veteran father out on Ririe Reservoir to celebrate Memorial Day, little did he know that he would be the one ending up with something memorable to celebrate. Not only did he land the new Idaho state record splake, but he did so using the most basic of tackle and gear!
The splake (Salvelinus fontinalis x Salvelinus namaycush) is a hatchery-produced hybrid created by taking the roe (eggs) of a brook trout and having them fertilized with the milt (sperm) of a lake trout. The result is a sterile hybrid, renowned as a fish-eating machine. IDFG attempted a program during the nineties of planting splake in waters such as Ririe and Island Park Reservoirs that were experiencing a boom in rough fish species such as Utah chubs & suckers. Unfortunately, the general slow growth rate of the splake led to the cessation of the splake stocking program. The fish that Davison caught at 10 pounds, three ounces was probably one of the original fish planted in Ririe Reservoir in the early nineties and is a testament to the size that splake can attain in the long run.
The previous Idaho state record was a four-pound, eight-ounce splake caught in the Panhandle back in 1996. Davison was not targeting splake during his outing. "As we were coming back in I just picked up a little Zebco 33 and stuck a 1/8 ounce white Rooster Tail on it and flicked it out. I was hoping to maybe get a kokanee or a smallmouth," said Davison. The reel was rigged with eight-pound test line and it took him about 10 minutes to land the fish.
While Davison's parents watched on, Davison's wife Nancy grabbed the landing net and jumped into the fray. As Davison was playing the fish he knew something strange was going on. According to Davison, "It fought like a smallmouth, but I could see the colored fin tips like a brookie." Once the 28-inch fish was safely on the dock, Davison was pretty sure he had landed a splake. "Not only were the fins colored like a brook trout, but it had the worm-like patterning on the back and the big, broad, shallow-forked tail.
Because Davison is an experienced sportsman and knows a trophy when he sees one, he held off cleaning the fish and instead headed to the local Broulims supermarket in Rigby to have the fish weighed on a certified scale. He also took a picture of the fish right after it was caught, so that the taxidermist would know exactly what the fish looked like and could do the coloration justice, once the object of piscatorial pride was mounted.
Though Davison is an experienced angler, fishing guide, outfitter and high-end fishing equipment sales representative, he showed that getting out with family and fishing just for fun using whatever gear is on hand can yield a wide variety of benefits. While his record probably bears little threat of being eclipsed in the near future, the warm memories generated by the adventure will definitely last for years to come.
[url "http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/news/releases/view.cfm?NewsID=2118"]http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/news/releases/view.cfm?NewsID=2118[/url]
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