Unbelievable reporting from Fox News: Two British fishermen honored their late friend by using his remains to reel in a 180-pound Siamese carp while on a trip to Thailand, The Telegraph reports. Ron Hopper, 64, from the British city of Hull, died of cancer before he could go on the trip with friends Paul Fairbrass and Cliff Dale. Before Hopper’s death, he reportedly agreed to let his 65-year-old friends take the ashes to be used in a special bait mix.
Using the special “Purple Ronnie” bait, Fairbrass and Dale battled the massive carp for three hours before catching and releasing it.
“We were gutted that Ron couldn’t come on the trip because he was really looking forward to it, but he was definitely with us when we caught that fish,” Fairbrass told The Telegraph. “It seemed like it was destiny we would use Ronnie to catch one of the biggest fish in the lake. It’s what he would have wanted.”
Hopper’s wife, Judith, reportedly scattered half of his ashes on beaches across the Caribbean island of Grenada. His fishermen buddies took the other half.
The world record for Siamese carp is 134 pounds, but the International Game Fishing Association stopped keeping tabs on the fish years ago as they live in protected waters, The Telegraph reports.
“After we caught this fish I looked to the heavens and said ‘thank you, Ron,’” Dale said.