Fish Story!

The following is an article reprinted from the Framingham Metrowest News that ran in the March 6, 2007 edition. This 17-pound, 12 ounce salmon was caught in the Lake Cochituate waters abutting the Summit Path cul-de-sac!

Big Fish In Local Pond

Giant salmon caught in icy Lake Cochituate

By Peter Reuell - Daily News Staff

FRAMINGHAM - Steve Potter has told his share of fish stories over the years, but this one is all true.

Potter, a semi-retired construction worker, last weekend pulled a near-record, 17-pound, 12-ounce salmon from the waters of Lake Cochituate - one of the 25 biggest caught in more than a decade. Though the fish won't measure up to the state record a whopping 22-pounds, 15-ounces Potter said it's a personal best.

"It's the biggest I've caught (around here)," Potter said, as he showed off the 35-inch fish yesterday.

The Framingham angler was fishing with his son, using live shiners on a treble hook, when they caught sight of the big fish early Sunday morning, but called himself lucky to have reeled it in with just 8-pound test line. "There is some skill in doing it, but second of all, there is luck," Potter said, explaining that his line broke only seconds after his son managed to net the fish.

But while Potter had hoped the fish might weigh in as the largest salmon caught this year, state officials say that honor will be the one that got away.  Only days before Potter hauled in his catch, another angler reeled in a 21-pounder, said Richard Hartley, coordinator of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's Freshwater Sport Fish Awards Program.

"That is pretty impressive," Hartley said, of Potter's catch. "If not for the fact that someone had just caught a 21-pounder...he would probably be leading."  The program, begun in 1963, awards anglers who manage to catch the largest of 22 fish species in the state with specially made pins.

For each species, Hartley said, the state sets a weight limit. Any fisherman who catches a fish over that limit can register their catch with the state, earning them a bronze pin with an image of the fish on one side, and the year on the back. The angler with the largest fish at the end of the year, he said, wins a gold pin and plaque.

The state also hands out an "Angler of the Year" award to the fisherman who manages to catch the most number of species. Last year's winner, Hartley said, caught 14 of the 22 fish in the program.  The species caught by Potter, brood stock salmon, are hatchery-raised Atlantic Salmon raised to repopulate the fish along the Connecticut River, which are then released when they're past breeding age.

Since being added in 1994, Hartley said, 573 of the fish have been registered with the sport fishing program, and Potter's 17-plus pound fish ranks among the top 25. To many anglers, a near-record setting fish is a trophy they would want on their wall, but not Potter. "I'm going to eat him," he said yesterday. "I had my son looking to get a smoker, but if not, then I'll steak it and eat it as steaks."

Any recipe suggestions?

"I just put some vegetables and put it in a fry pan, and steam it," he said. "In my opinion, fresh fish is the best thing you can eat. If you start eating fresh fish you caught that day, you'll give up eating meat."

And that's no fish story.

Peter Reuell can be reached at 508-626-4428, or at preuell@cnc.com