Lonny Shaw, 75 of Durango, said he was fishing Jan. 31 in the Animas River above 32nd Street, where rafts launch, when he felt a bump in his line.

Shaw said he had been there a couple of hours and hadn’t seen anyone, but as soon as he got a bite and started reeling the fish in, some help showed up.

“Just when I hooked him, a guy pulled up, saw what I had and ran down to help me,” Shaw said.

Shaw is a fly-fishing instructor, but was using worms for bait because he said he can’t wade in the river because of the condition of his knees. He didn’t have a net with him either, so after fighting with the fish, he ended up dragging it on the shore to land it.

“It was the biggest one I’d ever seen,” Shaw said. “I’ve caught thousands of fish in my life, but that one got my heart going.”

Shaw estimated the rainbow trout he caught was 28 to 30 inches long. After the driver who ran to his aid helped him snap a few pictures for evidence, Shaw released the fish back into the water, saying that he doesn’t like to keep the really big fish he catches.

“I let him go, and he took off like a torpedo,” Shaw said.

Shaw, however, won’t soon forget the catch.

“It was the fish of a lifetime,” he said.