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http://imgur.com/V8ZfxD3 Nice brown I caught over the weekend. Fattest one I’ve ever seen. Probably 22”, but like a soup can of a gut!

It's not a monster, but this 24 incher is the biggest one I've caught since my 28 incher 10 years ago! Caught on my last cast somewhere in SW Alberta. It's a miracle I landed this with my 7.5 ft 4 wt rod using 5X tippet! Fish was landed quickly and sent back to her home.

Love it. Reminds me of my late teenage years. My younger brother came out of the closet around the same time I told my parents I had become a conservation oriented fly fisherman... my Dad was so ashamed of me, he couldn't speak. My gay brother got the boat and the cabin! Your young man has an eye for beauty methinks... at least Rainbow Trout are native to Canada and Alberta, those Bow River Loch Leven Brown Trout are exotics from the old world, or in some cases from Germany... who would want to catch a lazy, louche, decadent euro-trutta that is the colour of diarrhea? Coarse fish vs Game fish is an old country term. Vestiges of the British Class system. Game fish were trout and salmonids, while everything else like Chub and Dace and Eel and Pike and Walleye were, well of course, coarse. A bit out of fashion here in Canada, but still used to identify seasonal fisheries and the fishermen and fisherwomen in Bonnie Ol' England, Scotland and Wales. The rainbow trout species and myriad variants have proven themselves to be the most amazingly adaptive little fish. From Chromers, through to the California Golden Trout they are an incredible and complex example of tenacity and beauty. Like most fathers, do you not hope that your children grow up to transcend their own parentage? Do we not hope they will go beyond our meagre ability, and fly forth from the nest to achieve their true potential? I believe your young lad is well on his way! Bravo!

So I have a little boy, almost 4. He got an Echo practice rod when he was 2. He fished a Sage TXL2710 with a Sage Click II, he's really got a handle on streamer angling and has just started mixing it up with hopper-dropper rigs. He's banged out some sweet gold during high waters, I couldn't be prouder. We recently got back from a camping and fishing trip, and he said something that cut me to the core. He got his hands on classically coloured rainbow, he was blown away. He then told me the rainbow is now his favorite fish..... WTF? What did I do as a father to fail in such a manner? Rainbows.... come on, I told him they are the equivalent to Instagram butt models, no substance, no soul, just the same looks as next one. I did the only things I could think, I sprayed bug spray and SPF on his flies, broke his TXL over my knee and then took him to WalMart bought him an uglystick and some Raps. I think I'm going to head to the downtown browntown section with a bottle of wild turkey and contemplate my very existence. Thoughts? Flyfishy where you at sucka?

The rescue crews need to train most every day. They need to know the river conditions at all times and be able to safely pilot their boats at high speeds in the event of an emergency. These are the folks we rely on to save our asses anytime, day or night, rain or shine, when every minute could be the difference between life and death. They get a friendly wave from me every time.