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Fresh Water My Biggest Brown Trout Ever
Posted by flyfishingaddict on April 15, 2005 (11946 reads)
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31" Brown Trout Video Hi Speed Only

On a beautiful sunny day in upstate New York I was fishing one of the now famous Lake Ontario tributaries in prime season for browns and steelhead. I was also in my favorite hole on my favorite creek. The stars may have been aligned also. Fishing had been steady all day with trout averaging 26". A variety of patterns had taken fish from buggers to glo bugs to stonefly nymphs. A few

friends accompanied me on this trip but all were fishing different parts of the stream at this time. I was fishing under a bridge which makes for a little less light in the water. The fish seem to hold there longer before their long migration upstream to spawn. My position was very close to the lake to get the freshest fish possible. Fresh fish take the fly better and fight harder which are attributes that I admire in a fish. I should have been completely satisfied with the fishing thus far but yearned to catch one of the behemoths over 30". I had only saw one fish that size on the trip in a trib to the west. He was mixed in with the king salmon holding his own as they tried to force him away by nipping at him. There was a fisherman right in front of him but seemed to be trying to catch salmon probably oblivious to the monster brown swimming in front of him. I waited around for over an hour hoping this gent was going to be finished with the spot but he had more patience than me. I would have guessed that fish would have hit 20 lbs. That fish still haunts me. Now back to the here and now. Like I was saying I was fishing in my favorite spot in the world throwing a size 14 egg pattern. The drift was going well when the strike indicator just stopped. I did not get too excited as I had hit bottom many times already. I lifted the rod up and felt the tension of a heavy fish. I still was not at the great excitement level as there had been heavy fish throughout the day. The fish did not fight particularly hard but was a slow bulldog type of pressure. He swam away from me several times at what seemed like a slow deliberate pace. After awhile I started to gain ground on him to where I would catch a glimpse of him . I was guessing a 29" brown. That is something to get excited about. The fight was now all but done as I tailed this magnificent brown. I kept the camera rolling which made it difficult to measure the fish as he was squirming about. I had a red 30" mark on the 7 weight rod that I built especially for this trip. The fish eclipsed the red mark by at least an inch. Wow what a fish! Should I keep the largest brown that I have ever caught or let it go? I chose the latter. I can always do a fiberglass mount later. I will always have video of this magnificent fish.



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Re: My Biggest Brown Trout Ever
by jeremy on April 15, 2005 http://www.fliesandfins.com
great read - i really enjoyed that - there is only one problem with catching 26"-31" brown trout on a regular basis (you said you were getting 26" all day. - which i know is true because the great lakes are world famous for their trout runs and their sizes and volume. Joey and I litterally watched hundreds of Huge browns move by us in schools on a western NY trib. Absolutely unbelivable! So, what's the problem with that???? It can be easys to get spoiled and if you don't live in Western NY or great lakes territory - I can tell you this. YOU AIN'T gonna be catching mamouth browns all day. 24" inches in other parts of the country is a very big trout - in great lakes terms - it's actually small. So - the only problem for me, is that i always tend to measure a trout fishery in relation to the great lakes river systems. i have yet to find a better river system. Bottom line is this, you need a great lake to support that kind of fishery and if don't live near a great lake you gotta travel - AND THAT IS WHY I AM LEAVING AT 5am TOMORROW MORNING IN ROUTE TO THE GREAT LAKES REGION!

Thanks for sharing - PS - video is infintately better than a wall mount in my opinion. Think about it - you can always relive that moment and that fish in every detail and you can see him swim away every time. Now, if you killed it and put it on your wall.....that somehow leaves a little to be desired. Thanks for letting him go and sharing your VIRTUAL WALL MOUNT with us.


 
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