Giant koi gets the hook; fish fans cast safety net

Moby Dick, the oversized orange koi with a price on its head, was fished from the depths of a Winchester pond last month nearly a year after a ''wanted" poster appeared around town.

But now the environmental organization that wanted the nonindigenous fish pulled from the waters has a new problem on its hands: Koi lovers are furious that a bounty was set on a fish they love like a pet.

''Tasteless," said Karen Walker, the owner of eight koi and a huge koi booster. ''These fish become our pets, we give them names and become attached to them. They recognize us and make us happy. So to hear about this was very disturbing."

The drama began last summer, when the Friends of Winter Pond posted signs around the water's edge with a snapshot of Moby Dick. The fish was one of a pair dumped into the pond a few years earlier, probably by a koi owner who felt they had outgrown their backyard habitat.

But because koi root at the bottom of ponds and destroy nesting habitats for native fish, they can disrupt delicate ecosystems, said James Lee, an ichthyologist at Harvard and Cambridge College who grew up on Winter Pond.

''They're not good house guests," he said.

They're also a growing problem across the state. Scientists have found koi in hundreds of ponds, lakes and rivers around Massachusetts, Lee said, and they're growing to epic size.

Indeed, two of the last three record koi in the United States have been caught locally, according to the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Wisconsin. A man caught a 20-pounder in Jamaica Pond in 2004. A few months later, a 23-pounder was caught in a California lake. Then last Halloween, Jerome Moisand of Arlington pulled a 24-pounder out of a pond in Malden -- the current record holder.

''I couldn't believe such a big fish was in such a shallow pond," Moisand said. ''It was absolutely beautiful."

For Susan Fennelly, a member of the Friends of Winter Pond, the beauty of the fish -- nicknamed Moby Dick because of its size -- was not her priority. She just wanted it out of the pond before it spawned. Her solution: A $100 bounty on the koi's head.

''Attention Fishermen: Can You catch 'em?" challenged the signs she posted near the water. If you can: ''Keep, don't throw back in!"

The gauntlet was laid down, but Moby Dick turned out to be wily foe. Koi have acute hearing, Lee said. It's a characteristic that endears them to owners who can call them to dinner from the edge of their backyard ponds with a clap of their hands or just by calling their names -- but it also makes them tough to catch.

Through the summer and fall the lore of Moby Dick grew as it evaded capture. Frustrated fishermen came and went. Fennelly grew ever more concerned that the two fish would spawn and their progeny would overrun the pond.

Finally, last month, Matt Shaw, a 14-year-old middle schooler from neighboring Woburn, went fishing on the pond with his grandfather in a 14-foot canoe.

A few moments after he cast his delicate 6-pound test line he felt a tug, then nothing. Shaw assumed he'd snagged a tree at the bottom of the pond.

''I'm stuck," he told his grandfather. Then the boat started moving. And moving, and moving.

The koi eventually pulled the canoe -- with a total weight of about 350 pounds -- about 500 yards across the water over the course of a half an hour, said Frank Ciardi, Shaw's grandfather.

''It pulled the boat like we were nothing," Shaw said. ''I was just hoping it wasn't going to snap the line."

Shaw, who has several state fishing records and dreams of being a professional fisherman when he grows up, had the skill and patience to tire the fish out. When he finally pulled it up in a net they weighed it on a hand scale. It was just over 20 pounds.

Moby Dick, it turns out, is a female of near world-record size. Ciardi, a lifelong fisherman, estimated the fish was at least 11 years old. And her belly was full of eggs. She looked like she would have laid them in a week.

Shaw called the Friends of Winter Pond, who, with great fanfare and relief, cut him a check for $100.

Then they posted the story of Moby Dick's capture on their website. Word spread among koi hobbyists where the story became the subject of heated debate. Was it moral to put a bounty on a koi? Was it in good taste? Most koi lovers were not amused.

''It's just like if you have a puppy and you see a dead dog on the side of the road, it's bothersome," said Walker. ''Why couldn't they just donate it to a koi pond or something?"

To fully understand Walker's outrage, consider her devotion.

She built a 3,500-gallon koi pond in her backyard and spends $100 a month just on electricity to keep the fish healthy. The food she feeds them cost $10 a pound. She spends an hour a day tending the pond and three hours a day on weekends. Indeed, one of her eight koi cost $3,000 and when it's dinner time, the fish come when they are called. Their names: Pumpkin Head, Moon, Orca, Elmo, Sky, Tiger Fish, Scarface and Tiger Face.

''I love them," she said. ''They're my pets."

When the koi lovers backlash hit, Fennelly's relief began to turn into embarrassment. The last thing she wanted to do, she said, was upset anyone. She just wanted the koi out of Winter Pond. She had never really considered the feelings of the koi.

''What about the pickerel and the bass in there?" she said.

But she also empathized, so she compromised.

Moby Dick's less vivid mate remains in Winter Pond and while Fennelly still wants him out, the bounty has been dropped. Instead, the numbers of two koi rescue organizations will be posted along with the sign.

''We'll be very happy if we can find this fish a new home," she said. ''I kind of feel like we're running a fish orphanage."

As for Moby Dick, sadly, for her it's too late. She's presently in the freezer of in Shaw's house, waiting to be stuffed. Final destination: Shaw's bedroom wall.

Douglas Belkin can be reached at dbelkin@globe.com.