Giant 13-foot salmon gets new name, ‘Charlie the Chinook’
Photos courtesy of Ron Bierstine
CARLTON – A familiar monster fish was featured in the Carlton parade on Saturday, but this time the fish had a name, “Charlie the Chinook.”
The 13-foot-long salmon also had new eyes and was cleaned after being covered in dust from being in storage.
The fish has been around for about 40 years. It was created in the early 1980s to promote the Rotary fishing derby. It was made by Jack Elam and Bob McGaffick, said Ron Bierstine, sportsfishing coordinator for Orleans County.
For about 25 years it was on a trailer on Route 279 in Gaines next to the Bait Barn run by the late Al Capurso. Students in the Medina FFA about a decade ago worked to bring the fish back to its original luster.
Students painted the fish a shiny silver, refurbished the fiberglass and put in a new mount. The county’s sportsfishing promotion department has taken the fish to many events since then.
Bierstine said the cleaned up fish with a name is intended to “catch” people’s attention. A banner on a trailer carrying the fish declares that Charlie is “King of Orleans County.”
