Every fisherman is after something they’ve never caught before, whether it’s the big one, a new species, an elusive fish or just something a little different.
Not that we don’t appreciate the average ones but we need to add some tales to our story collections.
Outdoor Life reports that Terry Nelson of Minnesota had one of these experiences.
Nelson went out for a day of ice fishing, when he had a pretty cool catch.
“I thought, ‘What is this? I have never seen anything like this before’”
A phrase that’s rarely said, but always makes for an interesting afternoon when said.
“Then I figured it had to be a sunfish but I’d never seen one like this before and I have been fishing my whole life all over the place. This was a first for me.”
This is one of the reasons we keep on fishing, the unknown. After all these years and all these places and Nelson is still having unique experiences out there. That’s almost hard to believe and makes you wonder if all the old fishermen’s stories might actually have some truth to them…
Nelson pulled up through the ice a golden fish like he had never seen before. He didn’t recognize it at all so he snapped a picture before releasing it. He went back and asked the local DNR with some help identifying it.
The officials later confirmed that it was a rare golden-colored sunfish, most likely a Blue Gill. The golden color is believed to be a genetic mutation, so it could be a catch that will not happen in his lifetime again.
That is about as cool as it gets when fishing for panfish… a fish that is described as ‘sun like’ that is normally green in color.
I’ve caught big ones, elusive ones, fish with injuries, but never a fish that is a completely different color then it is supposed to be.
Congrats Terry, that’s a great catch… it gives us hope that there will be unique catches for years to come in all of our futures.
