http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/04/15/news/state/21-fishytale.txt
Record catch only 1 part of fishy tale
By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff
In the world of sport fishing, where state records sometimes last for decades, a Montana record-setting tiger muskie was ruled ineligible before the ink on the paperwork had even dried.
On Good Friday, Steve Salazar, 19, of Harlowton decided to stop off at Deadmans Basin Reservoir northwest of Ryegate to do a little fishing. The wind-swept lake floods about 1,900 acres near the base of the Snowy Mountains. After hours of fruitless casting with a heavy trolling rod and helping an elderly angler net several fish, Salazar hooked into a huge tiger muskie.
The toothy fish, with a mouth sized for swallowing ducks whole, put up a strenuous 45-minute struggle. Each time Salazar worked it close to shore, the fish would dart back into the deep, Salazar's 20-pound test line whirring off the reel.
Once, when he got the fish close to shore, the fisherman whom Salazar had helped waded knee-deep into the water and tried to return the favor by netting the big fish but was unable to lift its stocky, thrashing body free of the water. Salazar feared that the man's netting would knock the hook out of the fish's mouth, letting it escape.
As it turns out, that would have been a blessing in disguise.
Instead, Salazar eventually tired the fish enough to bring it ashore. Just then, his unidentified neighboring angler reappeared, this time with a semiautomatic handgun he had retrieved from his truck. The angler shot the tiger muskie just behind the head. The bullet passed completely through the fish.
"That was a little shocking," Salazar said Monday.
Possible record
At the time, it did not even cross his mind that the fish might be a state record, Salazar said. But as his father, also named Steve Salazar, approached in his pickup he hoisted the trophy fish up to show it off.
"I was out of the truck before it stopped moving," his father said.
It was Steve Sr. who suggested that the fish be kept in water and ice until it could be weighed. A friend loaned them a bathroom scale to weigh Steve, and then Steve and the fish. The scale showed the fish weighing 31.5 pounds.
"Then things started to get a little interesting," Steve Sr. said.
They went to work trying to find the weight of the state record tiger muskie. Once they did, they had Salazar's fish weighed on a certified digital scale at Painter's Ace Hardware in Harlowton.
Beating the best
Often with state records, the new top fish outweighs the previous one by mere ounces. Not in this case.
Salazar's fish weighed in at 32.4 pounds and measured 49.1 inches long and 22.75 inches around. The current record, set by Marty Storfa of Billings in 2006, weighed 28.87 pounds and measured 46 inches long and 21.5 inches in girth. The difference was substantial.
But the tale had piqued the investigative curiosity of Harold Guse, state Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional warden captain. The shooting was especially strange. Shooting a fish is illegal if it is in the water, and probably unwise if it is on shore, given the possibility of a ricochet or other accident.
But Salazar said the fish was firmly aground when shot.
By Tuesday, however, there was another twist to the strange fish tale. Upon reviewing Salazar's license, FWP found that he didn't purchase his warm-water fishing stamp until two minutes after a Harlowton store opened Saturday morning. The state's computerized Automated Licensing System time- and date-stamps license purchases. Montana anglers are required to purchase the warm-water stamp, in addition to a conservation and fishing license, when fishing for species such as tiger muskies, walleye, northern pike and bass on certain waters.
"Everything has got to be legal for it to be a state record," said Bob Gibson, an FWP spokesman in Billings.
Now, not only does Salazar face a fine of $135 for fishing without a proper license, he'll also lose the state record as well as the state record fish that he had dropped off at All Mount Taxidermy in Billings for preservation. No word yet on what will happen to the fish.
For the record, Salazar caught the record muskie on a brown rubber shad with a long, twisty tail.
It was a great record while it lasted.
Record catch only 1 part of fishy tale
By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff
In the world of sport fishing, where state records sometimes last for decades, a Montana record-setting tiger muskie was ruled ineligible before the ink on the paperwork had even dried.
On Good Friday, Steve Salazar, 19, of Harlowton decided to stop off at Deadmans Basin Reservoir northwest of Ryegate to do a little fishing. The wind-swept lake floods about 1,900 acres near the base of the Snowy Mountains. After hours of fruitless casting with a heavy trolling rod and helping an elderly angler net several fish, Salazar hooked into a huge tiger muskie.
The toothy fish, with a mouth sized for swallowing ducks whole, put up a strenuous 45-minute struggle. Each time Salazar worked it close to shore, the fish would dart back into the deep, Salazar's 20-pound test line whirring off the reel.
Once, when he got the fish close to shore, the fisherman whom Salazar had helped waded knee-deep into the water and tried to return the favor by netting the big fish but was unable to lift its stocky, thrashing body free of the water. Salazar feared that the man's netting would knock the hook out of the fish's mouth, letting it escape.
As it turns out, that would have been a blessing in disguise.
Instead, Salazar eventually tired the fish enough to bring it ashore. Just then, his unidentified neighboring angler reappeared, this time with a semiautomatic handgun he had retrieved from his truck. The angler shot the tiger muskie just behind the head. The bullet passed completely through the fish.
"That was a little shocking," Salazar said Monday.
Possible record
At the time, it did not even cross his mind that the fish might be a state record, Salazar said. But as his father, also named Steve Salazar, approached in his pickup he hoisted the trophy fish up to show it off.
"I was out of the truck before it stopped moving," his father said.
It was Steve Sr. who suggested that the fish be kept in water and ice until it could be weighed. A friend loaned them a bathroom scale to weigh Steve, and then Steve and the fish. The scale showed the fish weighing 31.5 pounds.
"Then things started to get a little interesting," Steve Sr. said.
They went to work trying to find the weight of the state record tiger muskie. Once they did, they had Salazar's fish weighed on a certified digital scale at Painter's Ace Hardware in Harlowton.
Beating the best
Often with state records, the new top fish outweighs the previous one by mere ounces. Not in this case.
Salazar's fish weighed in at 32.4 pounds and measured 49.1 inches long and 22.75 inches around. The current record, set by Marty Storfa of Billings in 2006, weighed 28.87 pounds and measured 46 inches long and 21.5 inches in girth. The difference was substantial.
But the tale had piqued the investigative curiosity of Harold Guse, state Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional warden captain. The shooting was especially strange. Shooting a fish is illegal if it is in the water, and probably unwise if it is on shore, given the possibility of a ricochet or other accident.
But Salazar said the fish was firmly aground when shot.
By Tuesday, however, there was another twist to the strange fish tale. Upon reviewing Salazar's license, FWP found that he didn't purchase his warm-water fishing stamp until two minutes after a Harlowton store opened Saturday morning. The state's computerized Automated Licensing System time- and date-stamps license purchases. Montana anglers are required to purchase the warm-water stamp, in addition to a conservation and fishing license, when fishing for species such as tiger muskies, walleye, northern pike and bass on certain waters.
"Everything has got to be legal for it to be a state record," said Bob Gibson, an FWP spokesman in Billings.
Now, not only does Salazar face a fine of $135 for fishing without a proper license, he'll also lose the state record as well as the state record fish that he had dropped off at All Mount Taxidermy in Billings for preservation. No word yet on what will happen to the fish.
For the record, Salazar caught the record muskie on a brown rubber shad with a long, twisty tail.
It was a great record while it lasted.
