Stories about record fish are always fun, but this one even more so.
The new Colorado record smallie – 6-08 and 20 3/4 inches – was caught by 11-year-old Conner Peitsmeyer of Aurora on Nov. 12. Reasons why this is great:
> Caught by a youngster.
> Fishing with his dad, Michael – on a 35-degree morning.
> Fishing the same area of Aurora Reservoir they had a few days before, when Conner landed his first big fish, a 5+ smallmouth. Michael said of that fish: “When he caught that…Conner told me he was shaking, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from the excitement.”
> The youngest of three brothers, Conner said he loves angling so much that he saved his birthday and Christmas money to buy his own fishing gear: a medium-light St. Croix rod and Shimano reel spooled with Berkley Trielene XL 6-pound line.
Awesome!
More
> The previous state record smallie was a 21-inch, 5-12 bass caught by Carl Dewey at Navajo Reservoir in 1993.
> Aurora Reservoir produced another state record this year, and recently: On Oct. 4, 20-year-old Jessica Walton landed a 43-pound channel cat.
> “Aurora Reservoir has ideal forage conditions to produce very large fish,” said Paul Winkle, the DOW aquatic biologist who manages the fishery. “There’s an outstanding population of crayfish and yellow perch, which provide excellent food for fish to grow to enormous sizes.”
> In the last decade, the DOW has stocked more than 135,000 fish at Aurora Reservoir, including trout, bass, catfish, walleye and wiper, helping to establish the 640-acre reservoir as one of the state’s most popular fisheries.
> Colorado’s state fish records are here.
Chad Keogh
November 26, 2010 at 9:00 am
Way to go Connor! Nice smallie!
AlexV
November 26, 2010 at 11:12 am
If he was shaking from the first 5+ smallie, he must have had heart attack trying to land that one!! Way to go sport!!
Dixie Boy Hankins
November 27, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Way to go! If you were shaking after that try Bow Huntin!
Tumblebug
November 29, 2010 at 10:06 am
I’m happy for you!