I snuck out with an hour and a half to fish yesterday morning. I knew with the temperatures going to climb I would have to hit the stream early to avoid the snow melt.

I have caught some big fish on this stream, but in December I lost a beauty of a brown on a leech pattern. I was checking out how the fly looked right off of the bank went the monster brown came out and grabbed it. I set the hook but knew i did not have a good hookset. The fish swam straight up stream and then straight at me, then bolted right down stream. I had the fish on for maybe 3 minutes when the barbless hook popped out. I was disgusted. I was bummed and found myself pouting and leaving the stream. But at least I knew he was there.

I hit this creek a few times since that day, each day hopin to get another shot at the brown. Every fish that I hooked, I hoped it was the beauty. And time and time again i was disappointed. I had caught a lot of nice rainbows, and one brown about 10 " but nothing close to the ghost trout I had lost a few months ago.

Did he move down stream? Did someone catch him? I was pondering this on my way to the stream yesterday. I figured with the warmer temps of the night but not yet above freezing the trout should be hungry and somewhat active. I tied my flies on the road and rummaged through my box. I picked the twisted caddis as my dropper fly. I have had a lot of success using this fly this winter so i decided to start with it. I have tied a bunch of large heavy nypmhs since I have started czech nymphing. It was hard to decide. I decided on a size 8 stonefly i created. It is similar to a hares ear but hase biot tails and multiple wing cases.

When I got the the stream I was surprised to see how crystal clear and somewhat low it was. It was a bit discouraging but I knew with time ticking I needed to start fishing. The first few cast were perfect, right in the feeding lie. Nothing.. Should I switch flies, Should I go with a lighter anchor fly. "Ah, Ill give a few more casts" I watched my sighter very intently as it went just behind the rock where I figured the trout would be laying. I slowly pulled the nymphs along. As i saw the sighter pass over the rock, I knew I was in the perfect place.

I watched the sighter rip forward. Boom! He was on the hook. I knew it was a big fish instantly, When he hunkered down, the thought shifted that it could be my brownie. I watched the fish come up and could see the golden brown colors through the crystal clear water. My heart was pounding as though I had just shot a monster buck. "Don't lose him...Dont be stupid.." All thoughts that ran through my head.

I did not want to fight this fish for too long because I knew this would have to be a very old fish. I kept pressure on him and let him eat the drag a little bit. When this fish landed in my net, I was amazed at how long he actually was.

He stuck out of the net several inches. "YESS!!" I hollered. I have been after this fish for 3 months. Looking at the beautiful brown in the net, made me think of how long it has been since I caught a big bronwie. I had kicked some water on the ice bank to lay the fish down for a few quick snap shots.

My heart still pounding, and wanted to create a photo shoot but knew that this fish was really old, and did not want to risk killing it. I picked him up want last time and took a quick picture.

I thanked the fish for letting me catch him, gave it a kiss (first time ever lol) and laid it back in the stream, He was already starting to swim.

"Until we meet again, Good luck buddy" Was the last thing I said to him as I let him go. This brown will always be in my mind. I will never forget the feeling of landing this fish, and all of the anticipation of catching this specific trout. I wish him luck, and hope that if another angler catches him, the let him go as well.

A few casts later I landed the pretty bow on the same stonefly as the brown. You can see it in its mouth in the picture. About 15 minutes later i caught the same fish again on a size 14 beadhead pheasant tail. I knew it was the same fish because of the still bleeding hole from the large stonefly.

I thank god, that I became interested in fly fishing, and stuck it out all of the times that I went out and landed nothing. I encourage anyone who is contemplating starting the sport to do so. You will never regret making the switch.

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Mike:

Congratulations on a fine catch and a great story. I admire your hard work and perseverance. You used all the skills a good angler should have. I wish you many more.

Thanks for sharing.

Congrats Mike! Your story and photos made my day. Thanks.

Great Story, and an awesome fish. Drinking my first cup of coffee at my desk and glad I found this post.

Great story. It reminds me of a wild brown I targeted several years ago. I came close to catching him a couple of times. One time I lost him because my hookset was not good and the other because of a little nick in my tippet( I learned a valuable lesson on that one and now if I feel even the slightest nick I take the time to put on fresh tippet material). Anyway it took me most of the summer but I finally got him on a beetle. That fish made my year. Again congratulations on a great story and a fine trout.

Great story, really nice fish.

gencon

VERY NICE......CONGRATULATIONS......just one small thing.........maybe i'm wrong , but in the pic where you have the brown stretched out on the ice along side your rod n reel , brown 1 jpg.............. do you think it's a good idea to have the fish laying on the ice like that , seems you are being pretty rough on a fish that you seem to care alot about. Nice picture and thanks for lettin us all see it and being part of the adventure , i hope , for your sake , that he made it through without damage.

Osprey. I had kicked a substantial amount of water on to the ice while i held him in the net. If you look closely you can see it is soaked compared to the lighter color behind it. As i said the hole time of handling the fish was less than 30 seconds i would say. After taking the pictures I had held him in the water for less than a second and he was already trying to swim away. I did not fight him very long and actually waded out a bit to net him.

As I said I knew this was an old fish and did not want to do anything that would risk killing him. I am 100% sure he was fine. He showed absolutly no sign of even being tired.

Thanks for all of the positive comments guys. This fish made my 2013. Could care less if I catch another large trout. I hope he survives this year as well. I am actually surprised to see him in there with the heavy put and take that happens on this stream.

Very nice fish. Congrats. GG

Good stuff!

Quote:
Don't sweat it. It's a nice trout, but a stocker none the less. Still a great accomplishment though. Congrats!

Those fish are all beautiful

Beautiful. Thanks for posting the pics.

Nice reel!

Mike emailed me about this fish and said it's been at least 2 years since browns were stocked so a VERY nice holdover for a few seasons. Great catch Mike!

Yes that is the possible, but the crazy thing is that our main hatchery has not seen browns in 5 years. We did have a holding pond where the trout get a little bigger, but no matter what (if this fish is a stocked fish [WHICH I AM 99 % SURE IT IS]) it is still 5 years old.

His picture is now gracing the walls of my office in an 8x10 oak frame. Hope to top this fish this year but i can say i set the bar high on my 2013 season. I can only imagine what he looked like in the fall after aseaon of eating insects, baitfish, and god only knows what else, rats, small children that wandered to close.. LOL

I may try an evening shot at him in the spring with a mouse fly. Never caught a trout on one yet but think it would be neat.