Sunday, May 15, 2016

Trout Grand Slam

Since we don't have many cutthrout trout here in New England, though there are a few in Maryland and they may be elsewhere in small numbers, our grand slam consists of a rainbow, a brown, a brookie, and a tiger. Because tigers are a very tricky fish to find I had never got a grand slam until today.

I started out the day throwing the Morrish Mouse again and got a couple of nice brook trout on it. I still can't believe I have been catching trout on mice in the middle of the day. It's just crazy.
isn't it just great when the first fish of the day splashed water on the lens?



The Tiger came on a big yellow and brown Clouser, which is kind of turning into a favorite trout pattern now. The fish just slam it.

This rainbow was hell bent on taking the Clouser. Despite my best efforts he ended up getting the hook on like the six try and I landed him. With that rainbow and a second one a few minutes later out of the way all I needed was a brown. It was going to take a while.


Adam joined me and we hiked down the river looking into some spots that I hadn't fished since last year. I caught some more brookies and he got an absolutely jarring hit on a rooster tail.

Definitely the highlight of the day was finding this set on mountain lion tracks. The three lobes on the pads and the enormous size gave them away. It was a double stepper too, the back paws were right on top of the front paws, making some of the tracks look elongated.






After Adam left I tied on a frog diver and continued looking for my brown trout to complete the slam. A few more brookies got in the way, then, finally, a nice brown came up for the Waller Waker. YES!!! Grand slam complete.




14 comments:

  1. Congrats on the Slam!!! Looks like that river is fishing very good!!

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    1. It is i n prime condition, though more rain would certainly not hurt it.

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  2. Way-to-go Rowan!!! A tiger and Mt. Lion tracks to go with the day. "BEAUTIFUL"
    Tie, fish, write and photo on...

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    1. Thanks.
      The tracks were definitely the best part of the day.

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  3. Nice! A few surprises to complete a fun day on the water.

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    1. Surprises definitely help improving the overall quality, otherwise it would just be another day fishing for stocked trout on a pressured river!

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  4. Beautiful dark colored brook trout with good size to boot. Great pictures of them as well as the other trout of the slam. I have always believed there are cougars around New England, though the DFW in Massachusetts has always denied they're around. I am certain I saw one once along I-91 around Greenfield, MA.

    Regards, Sam

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    1. Their are most certainly cougars in in NE. I have seen two and this is far from the first set of prints, though it is the clearest track way I have found.

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  5. RM
    Mountain lions can be very aggressive, be careful out there. That river is beautiful, and all those trout are so colorful---congrats on the slam, what size clouser were you using? Thanks for sharing

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    1. I was using a size 2 with medium dumbbell eyes.

      I've had a couple of late evening encounters with big cats. Long story short, shouting at them is usually more than enough to scare them off in this part of the country. Out West I'd be pacin'

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  6. Exciting times in the wilds of Connecticut! Had you had been seated up front, you would have been "up close and personal" with the mountain lion we saw crossing the highway en route to Foxboro. I know you've seen tracks closer to home, too!

    -G.

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    1. I have had two good up close encounters, MUCH closer then we were in the car. First time it was maybe 30 ft in front of me?

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  7. Is that a scarlet tanager in that last picture? Beautiful shot of it.

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