NEWAYGO, Mich. — Joshua Chrenko has been fishing his whole life, though he particularly enjoys the thrill of reeling in a smallmouth bass. It was the ultimate surprise back in the early morning hours of July 5, when he pulled a neon orange smallie out of the Muskegon River.
The once-in-a-lifetime catch was his first of the morning.
"I've caught a lot of smallmouth, and it's kind of like what I like I dedicated my hobby life to doing... So, it was special for me because I recognized how rare it really was."
It was around 5:30 a.m. near his family cabin along the Muskegon River in Newaygo. After just a handful of casts, he felt the familiar tug of his favorite fighter fish.
Chrenko says he started to see the vibrant orange tone fairly quickly after the fish struck.
When he pulled it into the boat, it was a shock to his early-morning senses.
"I'm like, am I in my own... some kind of upside-down bizarro world right now, or what?" he thought.
He believes the fish was about three-years-old.
"It's survived its first three years basically being like a glowing target to all the predator species, so it's pretty crazy that it actually grew to that size," he told FOX 17 Thursday morning.
"It's kind of a perfect storm... I'd say it's a fish of destiny, maybe."
You see, Chrenko has made smallmouth bass a major part of his life.
He has one tattooed on his forearm. He owns an apparel brand called Achigan, which is French for smallmouth Bass.
He also co-hosts a podcast called Smallie Talk, which is understandably focused on catching smallmouth bass.
"That's kind of what I'm known for... It's me in a nutshell," Chrenko said.
Using some of the connections he has built through his time producing the podcast, he was quickly able to reach someone who knew what was going on with his catch.
He was told the bass had Xanthochromism (Xanthism), a condition that causes skin pigmentation to turn somewhat yellowish.
While Chrenko lives in Indiana, he says he thoroughly enjoys the waterways of West Michigan.
After taking some quick photos and videos of the unusual catch, he tossed the bass back in the river to continue living out his days as a neon orange river wonder.
