Koi Story: Man Rescues Large Fish From Flooded Streets In Darien

DARIEN, CT — When Tropical Storm Elsa hit Darien on July 9, Reese Hutchison was busy trying to pump 6 feet of water out of the basement at his property in town.

As the rain dumped loads of water into the Brook Street building, he held his breath as he wondered if the air conditioning he installed last year had been permanently damaged.

Then he looked across the street and noticed a large koi swimming freely in a parking lot.

"I was pumping the basement out from the rear entrance," Hutchison said, "and across the road on Grove Street, behind Neat [Coffee], there's a little parking lot there ... that's where we first saw it."

Hutchison, who also serves on the town's sewer commission, said he instantly knew he needed to help the rogue fish get home and sprang into action, attempting to capture the fish with a garbage can.

"Anything I could do to help the fish," Hutchison said, "I was there."

After about 10 minutes of unsuccessful trash bin fishing, Hutchison called his son, Jack, for help, who quickly made his way to the area in his truck despite the stormy weather. The father-and-son team then engaged the koi as it swam from Grove Street to Brook Street and, eventually, onto the Post Road.

At that point, he attempted to catch the fish again using a bin from the nearby Neat Coffee shop.

"It was probably way too small to catch that fish, but it was all that we had," Hutchison said. "He was really close to a drain that was working really well. It would've sucked him into the pipe and off to Gorham's Pond, and then Long Island Sound."

Just before the koi got into the pipe, Hutchison was finally able to capture it in the bin. Victorious, the pair quickly transferred the fish into a large garbage can filled with water and put it in the back of the truck.

Though many roads in town were blocked due to the storm, they managed to drive over to Tilley Pond and dump the fish back into the side of the pond that was not flooding.

"Hopefully, he didn't go for another journey," Hutchison said. "By then, it had calmed down quite a bit and the pond wasn't overtopping as much."

The day of the storm, police said on Facebook that numerous roads in town were "flooded and impassable," and crews were working to remove occupants from flooded vehicles.

"Please avoid areas of small streams and rivers," police said on Facebook, "and do not drive if not necessary."

While most people might not go to such lengths to save a stray koi, it was a no-brainer for Hutchison — given his admiration of these particular fish.

"I had them as a child in my back yard, I've been to Japan," Hutchison said, " I've always admired them and loved the fish, and he was such a backstory to the 6 feet of water in the basement at Brook Street. I'm trying to pump it out with a fireman's pump, wondering if I just lost air conditioning I installed last year, so the fish was not the priority that day. He had to be saved when I saw him because they're amazing animals, but I was hardly thinking about it any more prominently than that."

Hutchison estimates the fish weighed around 10 pounds and measured a little less than 2 feet in length.

"He had to be at least 10 pounds, but it's a fish story so you never know," Hutchison said. "I had trouble grabbing him and holding him. I couldn't put my hands around him and touch fingers. He's a big fish."

Hutchison said he was could not be certain if the koi came from Tilley Pond, but it seemed like the most logical place for him to have come from based on its size.

After dropping the fish back in pond, Hutchison went right back to dealing with his flooded basement, marking the end of his strange pit stop that morning.

Later that day, however, Hutchison began getting texts from friends who said their kids had seen videos of his big catch on social media.

Grieb's Pharmacy, a family-owned business on the Post Road, posted a video of the capture on its Facebook page. As of Thursday morning, the post has been shared over 200 times.

"Just a typical day at Grieb's," the pharmacy wrote in their Facebook post, which garnered over 70 comments from viewers noting how crazy the incident was.

Hutchison said he was asked a variety of humorous questions from friends who saw the video, including "Hey, you have a license?" and "Nice catch, is that dinner?"

"It was very strange to start getting texts and calls from friends of mine," Hutchison said, "guys I've served with on [town] boards over the years just sort of teasing me."

While he acknowledged the koi rescue made for a cool story, Hutchison made a point to compliment everyone in town who worked to keep people safe during the storm, including the town's public works and police departments and First Selectman Jayme Stevenson.

"We're lucky to live in a town where all the people who volunteer and work for the town are just really great people," Hutchison said.

He also noted that a number of his friends in town experienced various forms of unfortunate property damage as a result of the storm.

"People really suffered a lot," Hutchison said, "but I'm glad one fish was able to find home throughout it all."