ERIE (TNS) — It’s the catch of a lifetime for an 18-year-old fisherman from Pennsylvania.
The youngster caught an Atlantic salmon, a species that’s rarely seen where he was fishing – Lake Erie.
Colton Alex was taking part in a walleye and steelhead fishing tournament when a large catch hooked onto his fishing rod, according to GoErie.com.
The fish that the teen reeled in weighed in at 10.4 pounds and measured 30 inches in length.
The Atlantic salmon is a rare catch in the Lake Erie area, especially considering the fish’s size. Colton told GoErie that it isn’t the first time he’s reeled in an Atlantic salmon, but it is the first time he’s caught one in this lake.
“I’ve been fishing my entire life on Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, tons of tournaments,” he shared with the outlet. “I’ve caught my fair share of salmon. I caught Atlantics in Ontario, but I never caught one in Erie or even seen one being caught, and it was by far the biggest one I even heard of being caught.”
Initially, he thought what he was reeling in was a large steelhead, but after netting the fish, he caught a glimpse of the jaw and deduced it was a salmon. He then saw spots on the fish and realized it was an Atlantic salmon, the news outlet reported.
“I was excited about it but definitely more focused on the tournament. But I was more excited about it after the tournament,” he said.
When Colton caught the huge catch, he was alongside Captain Joe Nemet, 46, of Nemesis Sport Fishing.
According to what Nemet told Fox News Digital, the species of salmon are seen as “unicorn fish,” not just in Erie, but also in Lake Ontario, where multiple species of salmon can be found.
“You may catch 150 to 200 salmon and catch one Atlantic,” Nemet said. “It’s a rare occurrence in these other lakes and this being in Lake Erie [makes it] more rare… what was more special was it was very big.”
The captain said Colton’s catch was a “very beautiful fish” and added that it was the largest Atlantic salmon he’d ever seen.
“The odds of [the catch], I wouldn’t like to speculate, but it’s pretty small,” Nemet said to the news outlet. “I never dreamed it could come from Lake Erie.”
Nemet speculated that the salmon might have come from Lake Huron due to it not having an adipose fin (he said the fins are removed the fish that are stocked in Lake Huron).
Colton donated the fish to Save Our Native Species of Lake Erie, also known as S.O.N.S. The donation is so the meat can be used for one of the organization’s dinners.
Both Colton and Nemet said they plan to have replica mounts of the fish made for their walls.
