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Show . - i - '-- - '. I ' : ' . 1 -" . ' ' . ' - - ' ' . '' 1 I' I JERRY HARTLEY of Kaysville holds a 35 pound, 4 ounce mackinaw that he nabbed at the Flam- ing Gorge Reservoir. His son Ridge Hartley, right, hooked a 20-pounder. You could call it beginner's luck if Jerry Hartley were a beginner, so it might be more appropriate to call it being in the right place at the right time. Whatever, Hartley has claim to the second largest fish to ever come out of Flaming Gorge and the second largest fish to ever come out of Utah. The fish Hartley caught last Saturday at the Gorge was a 35-pound, four-ounce mackinaw. The biggest fish to come out of the Gorge was a 37-pound mackinaw taken last spring (on the Wyoming side of the reservoir. ) The largest fish taken in Utah was a 36-pound mackinaw taken in 1960 from Fish Lake. Hartley cuught the fish while fishing with cousin, Blaine Hartley, and Blaine's father, Don. As for Jerry's stroke of luck, the story goes something like this: The party of four hit the Gorge late Thursday. The group had fished Friday with some luck. Then Saturday, around noon, Jerry said he snagged his line. "My guess is we lost about a dozen flatfish dragging them along the bottom bot-tom Anyway, I had just worked a snag loose and was holding my pole when 1 felt a couple of tugs, like the flatfish was hitting the bottom. "I gave a couple of quick jerks on the line and it felt like I had a fish. I told Blaine, but he told me I'd must snagged someone's line. I said I was sure I had a fish, but he kept telling me no it wasn't. "When I had about 165 turns (he was using a digital readout reel) I saw the fish break the surface. Its fin was sort of yellow and so I though I had hooked a carp. "Then it was .Blaine's turn. He told me, 'No, it is a big one' I was still sure I had a carp. Anyway, when I got it closer to the boat and could see that it was a mackinaw, and a big one, I got excited. "When Blaine saw how big it really was, he became even more excited. He started telling me to do this and do that and to make sure I don't let it get too close to the motor," the proud Kaysville fisherman said, then continued: "When we finally got it in the boat, Blaine hooked it up to his scales. In only went to 32 pounds. When it bottomed out, Blaine got so excited he started to shake. I guess we were both pretty excited." The fish was taken to the Dutch John post office and weighed. Hartley said he caught the fish trolling with a flatfish in about 80 feet of water in Lucerne Bay. It took about 15 minutes to land. "The funny thing is," added Hartley, "is that Blaine is the Flaming Gorge expert. He goes fishing there two or three times a month. I usually go along with him two or three times a year." Blaine's biggest catch to date is a 23-pound 23-pound mackinaw. |