Back in the ’60s, fans of Eric Clapton used to scrawl “Clapton is God” all around London. Now they can write some variation of “Clapton is Cod” in its place. Or maybe exclaim something like “I Shot The Salmon”, or “Before You Accuse Me (Take A Look At This Fish)”.
Needless to say, we’re having a headline field day today with news that the British rock legend reeled in a big-ass fish (“Lay Down Salmon”!”) during a recent fishing excursion in Iceland. According to Men’s Journal, Clapton was on one of his usual fly-fishing trips last week when he hauled in a 28-pound salmon on the Vatnsdalsá River.
It measured 42.5 inches in length. This summer, so far, that’s a record — something Clapton himself has plenty of.
But as “Layla” knows, it wasn’t easy. Alongside Vatnsdalsá guide Sturla Birginsson, Clapton got up from down on his knees and hustled roughly a half-mile downriver after hooking the fish, and it took more than two hours to reel it in. As Men’s Journal notes, Iceland’s local fishing association enforces a strict catch-and-release police on the Vatnsdalsá, so the musician snapped a quick photo, seen up top, and send the big salmon on its merry way.
Here’s some incredible commentary from the Vatnsdalsá website, in a post titled “Fight Of The Year” (we guess they don’t subscribe to WorldStar).
“The angler counted up to 20 and cast again and this time it manage to hook himself and at that point everyone knew that this was no ordinary salmon.
To begin with the salmon was quite in the pool but after it found out that something strange was happening the fish started to run down the river. Both the angler and the guide had to run fast down the river and it kept going for about 1 km after going through 4 pools. Two and a half hour later they manage to land that fish and it was measured 108 cm which is the biggest salmon this year.
Both the angler and the salmon were totally done after this fight but both the angler and the salmon recovered after few minutes.”
Excellent work, Eric Clapton.