sarce
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2013
- Messages
- 1,504
Last weekend, I made a trip to a small stream in Shenandoah National Park. This was before all of the recent rains and streams were very low. In one small pool, I spooked a large brook trout (about 10"), which took cover underneath an overhanging rock. Next thing I know, a water snake is swimming across the pool with the trout in its mouth!!! It must have been lying in wait under the same rock the trout picked to hide under. I watched them struggle in shallow water for a minute before deciding I felt bad for spooking the trout right into the jaws of the snake and decided to intervene (normally would have let nature take its course). I walked over and nudged the snake with my boot, snake ignored me so I finally just reached down and as soon as I touched the trout the snake let go. The trout fell into the water and darted off, and the snake crawled back under the rock.
I told a friend about that encounter when I got home, and joked that I had earned some good trout karma (and possibly really bad snake karma!). Well it must have actually worked, because that is the only way I can explain the kind of luck I've had since.
Tuesday night, a round of very heavy rain moved through the DC area. About 2" fell in a short time on my favorite wild brown trout stream in MD. I decided to drive up there after work the next day. At this time of year with the sun setting before 7 p.m, this meant I would be driving close to 90 minutes to the stream and would have about the same amount of time to fish. Out of that fishing time, I subtracted a half hour to hike up in to the best part of the stream and that left me with one hour to fish before dark. In the back of my mind I wondered if it would be worth it...
It was absolutely worth it. I caught a 15" wild brown on my first cast, then a few minutes later had a follow from a fish in the 20" range. I worked my way downstream, eventually stopping at one of those classic huge pools that never produces anything. A friend had recently caught a large brown here so I gave it more time than usual. After working this spot for a solid ten minutes, I finally made a cast toward an overhanging rock slab in dead calm water as far away from the current as you can get.
A HUGE fish cruised out and calmly inhaled the streamer and the "fight" was on...this fish was so old it really didn't fight much, just shook its head a lot and used its size to try to stay put. In short order I landed the largest trout of my life, a 22" wild brown! I had the gopro running so I set that on some rocks and used it to get a few seconds of footage with the beast. It was almost dark so it didn't turn out great, but you get the idea. Just a massive fish for such a small stream! In 6 years of fly fishing for trout, this was my first over 20 inches, stocked or wild.
If that wasn't enough to prove that I received some good trout karma...
Today I was exploring a new stream (also in MD) looking for native brookies. I caught a few small brookies here and there, but it was pretty mediocre. I made a cast toward a shady spot between a rock and an overhanging tree trunk, and drew a strike from what I thought was another dink brookie. However, when I got it to hand I saw that it was in fact a small TIGER TROUT!
You've gotta be kidding me...my biggest wild trout ever, and the holy grail wild tiger in less than a week?????????
Glad I saved that brookie from the water snake. ;-)
I told a friend about that encounter when I got home, and joked that I had earned some good trout karma (and possibly really bad snake karma!). Well it must have actually worked, because that is the only way I can explain the kind of luck I've had since.
Tuesday night, a round of very heavy rain moved through the DC area. About 2" fell in a short time on my favorite wild brown trout stream in MD. I decided to drive up there after work the next day. At this time of year with the sun setting before 7 p.m, this meant I would be driving close to 90 minutes to the stream and would have about the same amount of time to fish. Out of that fishing time, I subtracted a half hour to hike up in to the best part of the stream and that left me with one hour to fish before dark. In the back of my mind I wondered if it would be worth it...
It was absolutely worth it. I caught a 15" wild brown on my first cast, then a few minutes later had a follow from a fish in the 20" range. I worked my way downstream, eventually stopping at one of those classic huge pools that never produces anything. A friend had recently caught a large brown here so I gave it more time than usual. After working this spot for a solid ten minutes, I finally made a cast toward an overhanging rock slab in dead calm water as far away from the current as you can get.
A HUGE fish cruised out and calmly inhaled the streamer and the "fight" was on...this fish was so old it really didn't fight much, just shook its head a lot and used its size to try to stay put. In short order I landed the largest trout of my life, a 22" wild brown! I had the gopro running so I set that on some rocks and used it to get a few seconds of footage with the beast. It was almost dark so it didn't turn out great, but you get the idea. Just a massive fish for such a small stream! In 6 years of fly fishing for trout, this was my first over 20 inches, stocked or wild.
If that wasn't enough to prove that I received some good trout karma...
Today I was exploring a new stream (also in MD) looking for native brookies. I caught a few small brookies here and there, but it was pretty mediocre. I made a cast toward a shady spot between a rock and an overhanging tree trunk, and drew a strike from what I thought was another dink brookie. However, when I got it to hand I saw that it was in fact a small TIGER TROUT!
You've gotta be kidding me...my biggest wild trout ever, and the holy grail wild tiger in less than a week?????????
Glad I saved that brookie from the water snake. ;-)
