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Chapter 3 Characteristics and distribution "When I first come out here, you'd go down in the lower country where the Yampa empty into the Green and stuff and you'd catch squawfish there, some of them sons a gun were as long as I was. I expect they'd weigh 80 to 100 pounds." Roy Lewis, Steamboat Springs resident Big fish stories Although difficult to substantiate, stories of enormous Colorado squaw fish in the 5-foot, 80-pound plus range, like Roy Lewis' story, were recounted by seniors throughout the basin. In addition, numerous stories, some accompanied by photographs, were told of fish in the 20- to 40-pound range. A first-hand reference to an enormous Colorado squawfish was made by Herbert Snyder (Grand Junction). Snyder recalled what he estimated to be a 5- foot, 80-pound Colorado squawfish caught in a seine net in 1926 from the Colorado River. In recalling the incident, Snyder said, "Well if I remember there was a lot of suckers and carp, but the thing that stood out in my mind was that big fish. I couldn't figure out how the hell they could get a big fish out of that stream that was no bigger than the river. Of course the river was bigger back at that time. "I was no good with fish at that time, but I was interested in what kind of fish it was, and I was told it was a minnow - a member of the minnow family, that's what it was. And hell, minnows are what you put on the end of a hook. That's what stuck in my mind - how the hell one of those little fish got that big. "... this fella was carrying that fish, I don't know how he had, but he had it over his shoulder and the tail of it would almost touch the ground, and I would say he was at least 5-feet tall. So it was a pretty good sized fish." The enormous Colorado squawfish was caught as Grand Junction residents were catching fish for a community fish fry. Another big Colorado squawfish account comes from Tim Merchant (Green River, Wyo.). Merchant recalled his grandfather catching fish, "as big as a junior high school kid" during family picnics to the Green River in the early 1950s. In addition, Merchant recounted seeing two enormous Colorado squawfish, one going "well over 60 pounds," while scuba diving in Flaming Gorge Reservoir: "I saw two squaw fish in either 1968 or ' 69 still alive in the lake. I used to dive extensively down there, a friend of mine and 1. Either '68 or '69, I don't remember. My Chevelle was new, so that's how I know. We drove down there to Sheep Creek. We were spear fishing killing, carp ... just doing some div- ing. The water was real clear and about noon that day you could see probably to Character- istics and dis- tribution 23