I value TheDude's fishing opinions very much, as he's an avid Bum himself. That being said, I value mine quite a bit more. I agree that the fish looks like a rainbow. I thought as much when I first saw it, and still have my doubts. However, having handled thousands of rainbows in my life, I'd never handled one like this. The coloration was like nothing I've seen before, and again, I've caught and handled thousands of rainbows. The fact that the fellers at the docks who took a look at it both said it was a Koke was enough to sway me, but the kicker is this: I kept the fish in my little floating wire creel, and throughout the evening I noticed these little white "bubble" things coming up from below. I then noticed that fish were rising all over and I assumed that this was some sort of hatching bug and got all hot and bothered. It wasn't until I finally thought to "catch" one of these emerging bugs that I realized that they were scales that were coming off of Archibald's fish. Rainbows don't shed their scales like that.
So, while I am loath to do it, I'm going to go w/ Archie on this one. The rest of you are dumb.
I've seen you play, and I think I'll pass on the lesson -- thanks though. I'd be happy to go slaughter fish with you sometime though.
