In this image, circa 1923, Nellie Richardson proudly shows off a 34-pound Freshwater Ling Cod. Ms. Richardson caught the impressively-sized fish through the ice, near the mouth of Windermere Creek. The Richardsons were a pioneer family who lived for many years in Windermere. Burbot or Freshwater Ling Cod were an important food source for Aboriginal and pioneering families. Ling are now rare in Lake Windermere. If you have any more information, e-mail us at info@cv-pioneer.com. A.E.Fisher Photograph courtesy of the Ede Family Collection
Samantha Stokell
Email: samantha@cv-pioneer.com
More from Samantha Stokell
Reporter Samantha Stokell hails from Ontario and hopes you don’t hold that against her. She studied film and video production at York University in Toronto and after failing to find a paying job in that field, decided to travel the world for a few years. She returned to Canada with stories to tell and attended Centennial College in Toronto for print journalism. The Columbia Valley Pioneer is her second newspaper after spending two years in the Great White North working in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.
An impressive burbot for sure, but maybe half the weight of the claim. The current world record for fresh water lingcod or “burbot” is 25 pounds 2 ounces and was caught in Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan by Sean Konrad. The world record fish 41 inches long and more than 2 feet in girth. Sorry to say, unless the woman pictured is seven feet tall and has 40 inch shoulders, that fish is maybe 18 pounds. Here’s the link to the world record article –> http://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/fishing/more-freshwater/where-fish/2010/04/new-all-tackle-world-record-burbot-caught-?photo=1#node-1001357251
Talking with the old timers at Spillimacheen – they said years ago ” the Ling were the size of paddles and and when they spawned in the creeks they were so thick that the horses would slip on them when trying to cross the streams.”