Avid fisherman catches surprise

It was no ordinary day at Duck Pond April 7 for Rosa Jones.

The avid fisherman had never made a catch like this one.

"I said, `Oh, my goodness, what is this?' I was scared to take him off the hook. He was looking so pretty."

Jones, fishing from the bank, caught what appeared to be a goldfish.

"People told me to take it to Sports Corral and let them see it," she said.

She did, and owner Donald Parker was also amazed.

The fish weighed three and half pounds, and he said it was unique and almost certainly a goldfish.

"People turn them loose (from their at-home tanks) in places like Duck Pond, and the bigger the space, the larger they get," he said.

Parker said he had never seen anything like it in his 40 years in business, at least one that big.

"People have brought in strange-looking stuff, like from Wall Doxey and other places, but nothing that looked like that," he said.

Jones said it could have been a cross between a goldfish and a carp or possibly a northern red snapper.

"I Googled it, and I'm not really sure," she said.

"Everybody has an opinion. I know it is the first one I've ever seen like that. Nobody ever caught one like that here."

Jones was fishing with her cousin. She was using red worms and also caught some bass, crappie and bream.

"I go fishing every chance I get," she said. "I love to fish.

"I've been doing good lately. The fish are really biting."

And that goes for even the goldfish.