Carson City resident Joe Lash has been fishing the Lake Topaz opener for 10 years. This New Year's Day event turned out to be OK, initially. Lash and his girlfriend, Lisa Edmonds, caught two fish. But it was what happened Jan. 2, that made his fishing day stand out from all the rest.

On the second day of their fishing trip, Joe and Lisa caught two nice rainbows early. After awhile, Joe hooked into this beast pictured above. The 23-plus inch rainbow trout was weighed at the Topaz Lodge store and came in at a whopping 9 pounds, 2.5 ounces.

"It was biggest fish I've caught," at Topaz says Joe, noting that a Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist told him the catch was the biggest he had seen caught out of the lake in a few years. "She put up a nice fight. It took about 5-7 minutes from shore to real her in. She was so big we found two undigested fish in her belly."

Joe caught the fish using Power Bait. For the entire 2-days, the couple caught 13 fish. Not bad. But it was the thrill and the size of the catch that will stand out for Lash.

"Best trip we have ever had during an opener for Topaz," he said.