Monday, July 20, 2015

Big Monsters in the Colorado River



There are many heroes in our line of work, whether the fishers waking up in the early morning hours to pluck the waters or the conservationists who work tirelessly to make sure that the beautiful lands of this country are healthy and taken care of, there are plenty of people doing whatever it takes to make sure we can do what we love. Some of these heroes are interested in learning new things about the waters of the world, one such person being Zeb Hogan, and his quest has brought him to the Colorado River. Hogan is famous world over for his fishing expertise.

According to this Wired article about him, “Zeb Hogan was already familiar with the legendary Mekong giant catfish. After all, he’d been studying the beasts, which grow to hundreds and hundreds of pounds, for years. But when a colleague in Thailand phoned him up in 2005 to say that fishermen had hauled a 646-pounder ashore, it seemed…unprecedented. So Hogan, a biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, did some poking around. He found some records that showed that it was not only the biggest Mekong giant catfish, but the biggest recorded freshwater fish ever caught.”

This sent Hogan on a whirlwind tour of freshwater fish. He has become obsessed with finding the biggest freshwater fish the world has to offer, and that has brought him to the Colorado River. He is particularly interested in the Colorado River and it’s little-known giant, the Colorado pikeminnow, and has been on a quest to learn more about it. Are you familiar with the Colorado pikeminnow? What is the largest freshwater fish you’ve come across? Let us know in the comments below. 

For more details, visit our homepage at http://www.leesferryflyfishing.com.