Darkness Yields Record

Sun., Oct. 6, 1996

Associated Press

Fishing

Cooney Reservoir, a popular recreation spot in Montana’s Carbon County, is too busy with pleasure boats and personal watercraft to be a fisherman’s paradise on most days.

But nighttime is a different story.

Steve McMorris of Billings caught the Montana state record walleye recently by plying the reservoirs waters after dark, when the pleasure boaters had gone home.

The 16.38-pound fish was just nine-hundredths of a pound bigger than the previous record caught in Fort Peck Reservoir.

“During the day, the fish are pretty much untouchable because of all the activity,” said Mike Poore, fisheries biologist for the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Columbus. “Fishermen can fish for them fairly effectively at night. And they’re starting to get to the big fish more and more,” he said.

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