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Brandon Lawmaster, 33, of Auburn, caught what appears to be an oversized goldfish in the Saginaw Bay Sunday, June 23.

(Courtesy | Brandon Lawmaster)

BAY CITY, MI — At first glance, Brandon Lawmaster thought the orange object floating in Saginaw Bay was a pop bottle.

Upon closer inspection, Lawmaster, 33, of Auburn, realized the object was actually an over-sized goldfish.

Lawmaster and his buddy John Kohn, also of Auburn, netted the fish while cruising among the cattails in a small boat the morning of Sunday, June 23.

“We didn’t even technically catch it. It swam up to the side of our boat,” Lawmaster said. “We had no clue what it was.”

The orange fish wasn’t interested in their lure so they tried to net it, but it got away.

About a half an hour passed and the friends saw the orange fish again. This time they netted it.

“It was a lot fatter … than I thought it would be once we got it out of the water,” Lawmaster recalled, estimating the fish to be about a foot long and to weigh a few pounds.

They took a photo of the mysterious fish and released it.

Lawmaster said he showed the photo to his coworkers at Charter Communications and most thought it was a koi fish. His boss posted the photo on Reddit to see what kind of comments it would get. Lawmaster also did some research online and Kohn consulted outdoorsman Mike Avery.

In the end, Lawmaster said, he’s pretty sure the orange creature was an over-sized goldfish — perhaps someone’s unwanted pet.

Ernie Plant, who lives in the Pinconning area and is a buyer at Frank's Great Outdoors in Linwood, said Lawmaster's catch was not exactly rare, but not common either.

“It’s not, I guess, too common to catch them … I’ve seen them in our canal before, they’re generally just under surface, just sunning themselves,” Plant said. “They’re kind of like a member of the carp family.”

Plant agreed with Lawmaster's unwanted pet theory.

“How do they actually end up there? That’s my only guess. People don't want them in their aquarium anymore and out they go,” he said.

Lawmaster said it was a surprising catch.

“Definitely something different to see in fresh water.”

Jim Baker, fisheries unit manager for the southern Lake Huron fisheries management unit of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, based in Bay City, said he's heard of this type of thing before.

“It’s not that uncommon for someone to catch a large goldfish out of Saginaw Bay or the Saginaw River system, for that matter. It happens a few times every year,” Baker said. “They are in the system because people cannot bear to euthanize their pets and so they let goldfish go into the river, or into one of the tributaries or into the bay, and they can survive very well out there.”

Baker said goldfish can grow quite large — several years ago a 5- or 6-pound goldfish was taken in the Saginaw River — and often their color changes to an olive drab.

They eat algea and small invertebrates, so the “Saginaw Bay and Saginaw River are a pretty nice environment,” Baker said.

While the goldfish was perhaps the day's most interesting catch, it wasn't the most exciting, Lawmaster said, noting a near 30-inch-long pike he reeled in.

“The pike I caught was the biggest pike I ever caught, actually," he said, adding he also caught three walleye and a rock bass.

Heather Jordan can be reached at 989-450-2652 or heather_jordan@mlive.com. Follow @HeatherLJordan on Twitter and Facebook.