Very cool story!! I wonder what your mystery fish was? I've never seen anything like that, myself.
I don't remember now how much money the restaurant paid us for that fish. I just remember we were standing around going..."Okay, what are we going to do with this fish now that the fish has been weighed?". I didn't even know places would actually buy fish from you like this right off the dock. The fish was way too big for us to ever eat, so I was just really happy to get something, anything, for it. They just showed up I guess from word of mouth from others in the looky-loo's who showed up. I think they were used to more showing up when the pro guided boats came into dock, and I wasn't one of those. They probably low-balled me, but they were the only ones there with any offer at all, so I was like..."Sure! It's all yours!" It wasn't a lot.
edit - Isn't there a place in Michigan called "Grayling", a town or something?
I thought a Grayling was similar to an Arctic Char like I used to catch up in Alaska, but I just looked them up and they're nothing like AC's. And yes, that is a crazy-big dorsal fin on top of the fish. That's pretty wild.
------------------------------------------------------Separate Reply (Grrrr)---------------------------------------------------
Some other fun, kinda cool, fishing stories...
Fished with Curt Gowdy (the Sports announcer) one time in Jackson Hole, WY. We didn't even knew who it was for about the first hour or so. He never said who he was. Super nice guy! I think he was probably feelin' us out to see if we were going to make a big deal out of it. When we didn't, he introduced himself after a bit. This was on a guided fly fishing trip on a raft on the Snake River. There was room for one more guy on the raft, so he just showed up. I kept looking at him thinking he looked really familiar, but who would you ever run into someone like that in Wyoming of all places?? (This was long before Jackson Hole became the celebrity s***hole it is now); back then it was just this nice little town. Boy, did all those rich folks F*** that all up!! Now you can't even get a motel there for under about $600 bucks/night!
Anyway, he was a really cool guy. Turned out he was part owner in the rafting company we had chartered for the day...which explains how he could just walk up and jump in any old raft. Real down to earth guy. And boy, could this guy fish!! Probably one of the best fly fisherman I've ever known (technique wise). I was just young, and he showed me all sorts of tricks. I always differentiate him as one of the "good guys" in Jackson Hole. His whole world outside of the announcing booth was fishing, and trout fishing in particular.
Never caught any monster fish while living in Wy., or anything really notable beyond your average trout and panfish.
Another time we got permission to go fishing on the Shoshone Indian Reservation (now it's been named some other PC name). Had to get permission from the Tribal Council, and it was a pretty big deal because no white man ever got to do that. Took like a year to get it. Went fishing on these lakes up on the east side of the WindRiver Mountains, there was about (5) lakes. Had to pack in on horseback from outside Lander, and it was about 50 miles in (took over a day to get there). No monster fish, but the one thing I do remember was you could catch a fish on every cast. Seriously, every single cast. Nobody ever fished those lakes, not even the indians (they were all too drunk in town, per our Shoshone guides). You'd throw out a lure and it would be sailing through the air just before hitting the water and fish would literally leap out of the water to get the lure before the other fish! It was crazy. It wasn't whether you were going to catch a fish, it was how big? (You'd get a lot of small ones in between the odd decent one). I'll never forget that. This particular lake was right next to our camp. I remember we actually didn't like fishing on that lake because of this. (Imagine that! Not liking fishing on a lake because you were catching too many fish! LOL!) So, we'd go fish on these other lakes for big Cutthroats. Never had that happen before or since!
No great fishing stories here in Colorado...at all. This state sucks really (sucks all around). They say it's "Gold Medal" fishing here, but the restrictions and regulations are endless. I seldom even try anymore. Game and Fish behind every bush and rock. I've never been out once where the DNR boys didn't hassle me for one reason or other (sometimes multiple times in one outing). I've caught a few trout (like 4) and one Walleye (just one) in the 30 years I've lived here. Sad. I even sold my big boat and bought a special smaller boat just for fishing here in CO, and all it does is sit in the barn collecting dust. Bunch a fukin' NAZI's here!!
I don't remember now how much money the restaurant paid us for that fish. I just remember we were standing around going..."Okay, what are we going to do with this fish now that the fish has been weighed?". I didn't even know places would actually buy fish from you like this right off the dock. The fish was way too big for us to ever eat, so I was just really happy to get something, anything, for it. They just showed up I guess from word of mouth from others in the looky-loo's who showed up. I think they were used to more showing up when the pro guided boats came into dock, and I wasn't one of those. They probably low-balled me, but they were the only ones there with any offer at all, so I was like..."Sure! It's all yours!" It wasn't a lot.
edit - Isn't there a place in Michigan called "Grayling", a town or something?
I thought a Grayling was similar to an Arctic Char like I used to catch up in Alaska, but I just looked them up and they're nothing like AC's. And yes, that is a crazy-big dorsal fin on top of the fish. That's pretty wild.
------------------------------------------------------Separate Reply (Grrrr)---------------------------------------------------
Some other fun, kinda cool, fishing stories...
Fished with Curt Gowdy (the Sports announcer) one time in Jackson Hole, WY. We didn't even knew who it was for about the first hour or so. He never said who he was. Super nice guy! I think he was probably feelin' us out to see if we were going to make a big deal out of it. When we didn't, he introduced himself after a bit. This was on a guided fly fishing trip on a raft on the Snake River. There was room for one more guy on the raft, so he just showed up. I kept looking at him thinking he looked really familiar, but who would you ever run into someone like that in Wyoming of all places?? (This was long before Jackson Hole became the celebrity s***hole it is now); back then it was just this nice little town. Boy, did all those rich folks F*** that all up!! Now you can't even get a motel there for under about $600 bucks/night!
Anyway, he was a really cool guy. Turned out he was part owner in the rafting company we had chartered for the day...which explains how he could just walk up and jump in any old raft. Real down to earth guy. And boy, could this guy fish!! Probably one of the best fly fisherman I've ever known (technique wise). I was just young, and he showed me all sorts of tricks. I always differentiate him as one of the "good guys" in Jackson Hole. His whole world outside of the announcing booth was fishing, and trout fishing in particular.
Never caught any monster fish while living in Wy., or anything really notable beyond your average trout and panfish.
Another time we got permission to go fishing on the Shoshone Indian Reservation (now it's been named some other PC name). Had to get permission from the Tribal Council, and it was a pretty big deal because no white man ever got to do that. Took like a year to get it. Went fishing on these lakes up on the east side of the WindRiver Mountains, there was about (5) lakes. Had to pack in on horseback from outside Lander, and it was about 50 miles in (took over a day to get there). No monster fish, but the one thing I do remember was you could catch a fish on every cast. Seriously, every single cast. Nobody ever fished those lakes, not even the indians (they were all too drunk in town, per our Shoshone guides). You'd throw out a lure and it would be sailing through the air just before hitting the water and fish would literally leap out of the water to get the lure before the other fish! It was crazy. It wasn't whether you were going to catch a fish, it was how big? (You'd get a lot of small ones in between the odd decent one). I'll never forget that. This particular lake was right next to our camp. I remember we actually didn't like fishing on that lake because of this. (Imagine that! Not liking fishing on a lake because you were catching too many fish! LOL!) So, we'd go fish on these other lakes for big Cutthroats. Never had that happen before or since!
No great fishing stories here in Colorado...at all. This state sucks really (sucks all around). They say it's "Gold Medal" fishing here, but the restrictions and regulations are endless. I seldom even try anymore. Game and Fish behind every bush and rock. I've never been out once where the DNR boys didn't hassle me for one reason or other (sometimes multiple times in one outing). I've caught a few trout (like 4) and one Walleye (just one) in the 30 years I've lived here. Sad. I even sold my big boat and bought a special smaller boat just for fishing here in CO, and all it does is sit in the barn collecting dust. Bunch a fukin' NAZI's here!!