Water Damage Restoration in Greeley, CO

On June 12, young Eaton angler Daniel Geiger set out for the small, few-acre pond at Greeley’s Allen Park with a specific prize in mind.

He wanted to become a “Master Angler” — a goal the ambitious 10-year-old fisherman had been feverish pursuing.

But the prize Geiger would walk away with that day was one that even he couldn’t have fathomed.

On that late-spring day, Daniel — with a slight assist from his father, Ryan Geiger —hauled in an absolute behemoth on a mere piece of corn.

Daniel caught a fish about 2/3 as big as he is, a 37-inch grass carp.

It was a fish bigger than most people’s dogs.

It turned out to be a new Colorado state length record for the species.

More than three months later, Daniel vividly remembers the moment the once-in-a-lifetime fish struck — a moment that will be ingrained in his memory forever.

“The pole started to move a little,” Daniel said. “I had to keep the line slacked or else the carp will drop it as soon as they take the corn. The line started going. And I hooked the fish, and I could feel its weight. But most carp fight pretty hard. When we got a first glimpse, I was super happy, and I was yelling.”

Daniel and his father knew, immediately, Daniel finally had his Master Angler-worthy fish.

It needed to be just 30 inches for Daniel to receive his Master Angler certificate and patch. The state’s Master Angler program rewards fishermen for catching trophy-sized fish. Each species has its own length requirement.

But when Ryan waded into the pond’s murky waters to lift the giant over the pond’s rock-lined bank, Ryan quickly suspected the monster his son had reeled in might just qualify as a bit more than a mere Master Angler fish.

Ryan quickly searched for info on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website and saw that the state’s common carp length record is 35 inches.

Ryan and Daniel followed CPW’s very specific directions for accurately measuring the fish, they snapped a photograph and released the bottom-feeding behemoth back into the water — as required by CPW for a fish to be eligible for a length state record.

Elated, Ryan and Daniel knew the fish would easily surpass the state’s common carp length record.

There was just one potential problem.

It turns out this was actually a grass carp, a fish native to the Pacific Far East, much less common in this area. The feisty, scaly specimen has existed on this earth since the Jurassic Period, and it definitely looks the part.

Daniel and Ryan weren’t even previously aware that this small, neighborhood pond was home to this particular species of carp.

It turned out, however, Daniel’s carp beat out the previous grass carp record by a mere 1/2 inch. Good thing for the Geiger duo’s insistence on exact, precise measurements.

“I looked up the common carp record, and we did all the measurements,” Ryan said. “I told Daniel, ‘You’ve got the common carp record!’ And, then I got home and I was looking at pictures of his fish, and I was like, ‘Oh, whoops. Daniel, you might not have the record.’ Then I looked up the grass carp record and took a sigh of relief.”

They would anxiously wait several weeks for CPW to confirm the potential record. CPW completed the process and informed the Geigers in August.

Though catching a state record fish isn’t exactly something even the most accomplished of anglers would expect, in Daniel’s case, it wasn’t exactly an accident, either.

Daniel had long fine-tuned his skills in preparation for such a moment.

That much is evident in the way Daniel patiently keeps the bail of his spinning reel open, waiting for the slightest indication of movement before giving the savvy, finicky carp all the time it needs to engulf the bait before Daniel puts all of his strength into setting the hook.

Now, Daniel can move on to pursuing his next Master Angler species. — maybe a 12-inch-or-larger yellow perch, one of Daniel’s favorite species.

Who knows? Maybe that next Master Angler Award-winning fish will again be a little more than Daniel bargained for.

“It’s just really cool to watch (Daniel) fish and enjoy it as much as I did when I was little,” said Ryan, who is also an avid fisherman alongside his son. “But I could not imagine being 10 years old and catching a state record.”

Originally Published: October 1, 2024 at 3:39 p.m.

GREELEY — Another icon of Greeley history will come to a close this month. Kenny’s Steakhouse, named for the man who put Greeley on the map as a meat-and-potatoes town, will close on Oct. 12.

Named for Ken Monfort, whose legacy of cattle feeding continues today at the JBS USA packing plant, and whose son, Dick Monfort co-owns Kenny’s, the Steakhouse will close Oct. 12 after almost 30 years at the corner of 35th Avenue and 10th Street.

“All day long, I’ve been getting blown up with calls, emails and texts, ‘Where am I going to get my Charlies Chips? and all these different” favorites people loved, co-owner Matt Larson said on Monday, hours after he made the announcement on his Facebook page.

This will be the second historic Greeley restaurant to close in the last six weeks. Fat Albert’s closed Aug. 31 after a 42-year run in central Greeley.

Kenny’s has been for sale for a while, but no one has come forward to buy it. Co-owner Matt Larson said in the absence of a buyer, he opted to close the doors. He said he isn’t sure exactly if they will continue to try to sell it, or lease it out. For him, though, it’s time to scale down.

“Kenny’s has lived its life, just shy of 30 years, and it’s very bittersweet,” Larson said. “I’m looking forward to slowing down and enjoying life. I’m also sad because this has been my home for 30 years and giving it everything I had. I’m proud of all its successes. We’ve done a lot of catering, and a lot of special parties and all the special memories. Customers are like family and the employees are like family. It is the definition of a true family business.”

The business originally was called the Stampede Steak Ranch — a tribute to the annual Greeley Independence Stampede rodeo — when Larson and Rob Haimson opened it in 1995 in a building that had housed a Golden Corral restaurant.

“For the first six years, we were a more casual place, like the Golden Corral,” Larson said in a previous interview with BizWest, “but we did a big remodel in 2001. Ken Monfort passed away in February of that year as we were remodeling, so when we opened, we decided to call it Kenny’s Steak House in honor of him.”

Larson had worked for Haimson as a manager at the former Potato Brumbaugh’s, a legendary Greeley restaurant named for a character in James Michener’s Colorado-based novel “Centennial.” Haimson sold his share of the Stampede Steak Ranch to Dick Monfort in 1996. Potato Brumbaugh’s closed in 2006, putting to rest the unique characters of Michener’s novel. That restaurant has since been remodeled as Pellegrini Cucina Italiana since 2012.

Larson said the pandemic was difficult, but they managed to stay open. But today’s economy is hitting people harder, and higher-end restaurants have a tougher time when people’s pocketbooks are pinched.

The restaurant is still filling seats, Larson said. But the economy isn’t only taking a chunk out of people’s discretionary money.

“The restaurant business is hard, and particularly a higher-end menu like ours is a little more daunting. We’re selling steaks and seafood, but the cost of food and supplies has gone up, and there’s insurance, utilities,” Larson said. “You have to sell a lot of steaks.”

Larson opened the G.O.A.T. Sports Bar in Centerplace in 2021 with his son, which took a little more of his time, though another of his sons manages it.

“It’s a very busy restaurant and we have a lot of staff. I’m there every day, but doesn’t take a lot of my time,” Larson said. He said he will continue to work, but at 61, he welcomes a break.

“I’m looking forward to slowing down, and spending time with my wife,” Larson said. “All good things come to an end, and it’s been a good run. Right now, I just want to go out strong and feed a lot of people one more meal or two and take good care of them.”— BizWest staff writer Dallas Heltzell contributed to this report.

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