Gunnison news-champion., 1921-03-04
HufHIUL ACCOUNT OF y,sn
CATCH IN THE CUNNIsnN

VI AllOUNI OF YlQM
SAICH IN THE CUNNISON
Psehlo Chieftain-
aurder will OUT Il ms o,lv .
Also 1t has been said th.s N. .x~,.
- man has . cnaseience INA iii
Of him. NE sFssh our
Twenty years ago is -a.cie.t his
heG,. ou' mats whea this little story
And il was just . couple Of d.v.
.sso that the truth came 10 the surf,r.
SDoneening the catching BY Deputv
Dstnet Clerk r L Nafe of this
e1s .s, OF i2-pound trout in the Gun
In those days there lived at Canon
LILY this same Mr.. Nafe; then as
nov, he was Nimrod. There were
o.ners Of his species in Canon City
anu on certain date Of the open sea-
scn LOT the fnny tribe. four or five Of
!ne Aforesaid Canon Cityites, inciud-
ing Mr.. Nafe, hied themselve. TO the
Plaee Of the speckled beauties, Gunni-
That year some philanthropic sports
man mad offered a reward Of $50 for
.ne largest trout caught in Colorado
tnat year. Every one of the Canon
Ity quartet was sure he would win
the five KS.
Wen, they got thereto Almont-
some distance above Gunnison on the
panks OF the classic stream by the
- sahe name For several days they
lI sIioNe Tor the fifty simoleons; they
SauSht lew OF the ordinaries, but
ho.nihg that looked like the biggest
ot tne season On the third day three
Va 'He oeheh were wadiRg the river
thing.
All ct once here came Mr.. Nafe
hanging on 10 his reel with 100 feet
of line preceding him down the stream
so fast that he could hardly keen up
with il, the water being thigh deep.
Past the upper of the three firhern,en
went Nafe tugging at the line. On
he went past the second and the third
and when a considerable distance be-
low all Of them, he managed by the
exercise Of great strength and superb
or skill to spring his automatic reel
and draw in the mighty fish that he
excitement was at fever heat: :
Nafe had caught the biggest trout
ever; there could be no mistake about
IT. The others rushed after him as
he floundered with his fish tc the bank
of the river. When they reached him,
he had loosed the hook from the
monsters mouth and there, Topping
on the sand was trout that soon
thereafter tipped the scales at l2
pounds fiat.
With one accord his companions in
sisted that he send the fish to the $50
reward officer, but he declined, saving
that he would rather have the fish
than the money.
My conscience was working pretty
well these days." said Nafe at the
time of making his confession the
other day. "You see," he continued,
Conditions were that the prize fish
must be caught with hook and line
in an open stream of the state, and
here is the truth of the matter:
"On the morning in question, l was
prowling about the hills and fields in
search Of grasshoppers, when came
on large irrigation ditch from which
the water had but recently been
turned so that there was but a few
inches in the bottom of the ditch. |
was startled to see the big fish flop
ping in the bottom of the ditch with
his back sticking out of the water. |
picked him up and carefully ran my
leader thru his gill and mouth SO as
to make sure he would not release
himself. Then l took him down to the
river and put him in the water. Soon
he was revived and started full tilt
down the stream toward my fishermen
friends. You knew the rest before"
A funny feature, showing how well
the deception worked, was brought by
all three of the other men offering to
make affidavit that they had seen him
catch the fish in regulation manner in