Time and Effort Rewarded

I set goals for myself every year. Some years I accomplish most of them. This was not one of those years, though I did get my first pike, herring run stripers, and albies from shore, but there is an awful lot I failed to accomplish, either for logistical reasons or angler error. My failure to catch a grass carp, though I still have time, is a painful one. 

Yesterday, I accomplished a goal I set for myself sometime in late January and have worked towards with unwavering focus. And on Saturday, it finally came to fruition. I got the biggest small stream wild trout I've caught since 2013. I should qualify that statement, if the average flow is below 70 cfs and you can cast across it without shooting any line, it's a small stream. I've been fishing this one hard all year and I've made exactly the kind of progress I'd hoped to. I know where fish are likely to be and what they'll feed on, how aggressive they'll be, and I can pretty much assure myself that I'll catch trout any day I fish there, and if the conditions aren't going to be good I know not to go. I caught my first wild brown via mouse there in late spring and had great streamer fishing through the winter. I knew late fall would probably be my best chance to get one of the stream's few giants, the wild browns in the 18-24 inch range. On Saturday I set out , planning to fish into the darkness, not really sure exactly what would happen but knowing that I would find some aggressive brown. The best I could hope for was that the fish would still be pre-spawn. I ground it out for a couple hours, not making the best of my shots, missing some good fish I shouldn't have. I don't let missed fish sway my confidence too much, it's the reality of streamer fishing. If you let that happen, you get soft, you don't see important details, and you don't hunt your fly. I kept hunting, and although I was frustrated by missed fish it pushed me on even harder. 

Eventually my hook found lip, and I brought to hand the first of the day: a beautiful holdover rainbow.

I then covered about a half mile of water with no fish moved whatsoever. I began to doubt my fly and switched to a Drunk & Disorderly, which did not work either. After fishing five runs with that I switched back to the sparkle minnow, thinking I should at least not limit myself by fishing what is really an absurdly big streamer for such a small stream. There are often long stretches of this stream that seem to be devoid of catchable size trout sometimes. Either that is actually the case, or ducks spooked them all...  both are possible.
I fished the first run with the sparkle minnow back on very carefully because it has a tendency to hold multiple fish. At the tailout I moved a very small fish, one too small to eat the streamer. Then a mid sized fish in the outside seem, twice, but it wouldn't grab the fly. at what I would consider the middle of the run, just on the inside of the fastest current, I pulled a sizable hen out of her lie and into the lee of a rock in front of me. I was sure she would eat the fly if I let her. I made my next cast upstream and past where she settled and she came a foot upstream to take. I got ready for the grab, and at the very last second she turned... making way for a much larger fish that I had not seen. He grabbed the fly, set the hook on himself, and charged off downstream towards a logjam. He made the mistake of stopping short and coming to the surface. When he got his head up I never let him go back down and made the  fight a short one. I was a bit flabbergasted. This was a big fish, not a giant, but big. It measured against my rod at 19 inches, and it was not a thin fish at all. He also had the darkest spawning colors of any brown I've caught and a gnarly kype. I've caught a brown trout or two in my lifetime. Some have been really big. Some have been really colorful. One or two have been what might be classified as "once in a lifetime" events. This one isn't the biggest, and isn't the most colorful, but I'll be damned if it isn't one of the most memorable.

I took my time with him. I held him gently with his head out of the water for no more than 4 seconds at a time. He did't need a revival, he hadn't lost much energy in the short fight and I could feel him wanting to go back, so when I was done admiring him I just let go of his peduncle. Watching a stunning fish like this swim off is what sustains me.

I kept fishing, I caught more fish, but what more do you need to see? I'm content.