A simple issue of catch and long-range release

Okay gang, normally I would tell you all about this at Friday's Loveland Fishing Club breakfast.  But I will be gone tomorrow.  So consider the following to be a trustworthy account of the events of May 10 at Rivers Edge Natural Area, submitted by a beloved past President and verified by Dennis Kelsey, a long-term club member never known for exaggeration:

As we trundled onto the dock on Dragonfly Pond, we could not help but notice an enormous largemouth bass cruising along the shadowy side of the dock, a conservative 19, maybe 20 inches in length.  Call it 20, and weighing at least 4 1/4 pounds.  Trying to entice a bite was wasted effort; this bass didn't get this big by being gullible.

Anyway, about an hour into the fishing, and relying on my trusty ultralight rig -- 4-pound Nanofil line, 1/32-ounce jig and one-inch Gulp Minnow -- I hooked a fine, fat 10- or 11-inch rainbow.  Call it 11.

Skillfully I reeled it to within a foot or two of the dock, when -- SUDDENLY!  the giant largemouth emerges from the shadows and chases the trout down the length of the dock.  Then back.  Then ENGULFS that poor fish with one giant swallow, leaving 3 inches of trout tail protruding from its jaws.  Then the victor slowly headed for deeper water, a loose drag the only thing between it, me and a broken line. 

After a battle that seemed to last an hour, and was likely at least two minutes, the bass turned and swam back toward the dock, where I waited in premature triumph and Dennis waited with net in hand.  That's, uh, where this report gets a bit awkward.  The damned bass then coughed up the rainbow and swam back under the dock. The damned trout emerged from its ordeal mortified but otherwise unhurt and - this is important - still firmly hooked until given its release.

So here is the question:  Was this not a legitimate case of catch and release?  And with the victim's tail protruding at least 3 inches from the largemouth's large mouth, the combined catch was a full 5 inches beyond minimum criteria for Colorado Master Angler status.  (With a short-term weight of 4 1/4 pounds of bass plus 12 ounces of trout, it was also a nifty 5 pounder.) Even Norm and Dan, not to mention my brother Paul, should have no problem with this reasoning.

So, Dennis and I will leave the math to our esteemed judge, Jim Roode.  But it sure seems like I am now the leading contender for Loveland Fishing Club Angler of the Year.  Congratulations are clearly in order.

Respectfully submitted,
Bill Prater