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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.