A Fish Called Sasquatch

I made a few hours today to visit my home river. I knew with the water being back up and still stained would give me a fair chance of fooling a bigger fish if I could find it. I also know how weird this stream behaves just before spawning time. In years past I have fished one mile of river in a day and caught as little as 10 fish, and all of those would be in one short section or even just one pool. They don't seem to spawn in the same places year to year either, I've only seen redds in the same spot twice, that being in November of 2012 and October of 2014 at the tail of a pool I call the Last Chance pool. I years when I've fished regularly in the fall I was able to pinpoint areas where fish had congregated. Today I'm not sure I quite found them, though I did catch a good number of wild and holdover browns spread out throughout the water I fished. No giants, but some fairly solid fish.

I ended my outing in a short stretch of water that has given me some special memories during this time of year. In 2014 I caught six gorgeous wild browns in one pool during a surprise blue wing olive hatch. But most memorable of all were a handful of encounters in 2012 with a giant fish that came to be called Sasquatch. Partly because it as so big, and partly because though I was convinced it existed, I just could not catch the darn thing. It as too smart and way to strong. Where it came from is a mystery, as is its true identity. Was it just a really big resident brown, like Grandfather, ho I eventually did catch, or could it have been a big sea run fish? Maybe even an Atlantic Salmon? 

My first encounter with Sasquatch happened in the eddy behind that big boulder. I carefully waded up to that particular little stretch knowing it often held sizable fish. When I got into casting position and looked up to that I could see that something as making a commotion up there. I had on an Edson Tiger, which had already brought two beautiful wild browns to had that day. I can still remember both of those fish vividly. I flicked that fly into the eddy on the right side, and very quickly a big fish came over and grabbed it making a tremendous wake. I set the hook and the fish took of upstream, showing me it had absolute control over the situation. It suddenly turned and did the longest run I had experienced at that point in my fishing career. I chased that fish down through a long run, the next pool, and into the pocket water below where I was dealt the final blow as my tippet was rubbed against a rock. I came back to that stretch of water three times in the coming weeks hoping to find Sasquatch, going there straight after getting home from school, and though I encountered it two more times I as outsmarted. I still have yet to hook another fish in that stream that fought so strongly. Though I'm sure Sasquatch is long gone, the memory of that fish that I never even got a look at will stick with me forever.