One Last Cast ... For A 2 Foot Trout !

[greatbigdiddy]

One night a couple years back I was fishing and camping out in the mountains at a nice backwoods campsite that I have stayed at many times over the last 30 years it is situated on the banks of a river right at a nice big rock ledge hole, a big beautiful deep hole with a powerful swift run in the middle and nice eddy's back to the rock ledge on each side of the river the nicest being the one on the far side "of course".

 

I have always done fairly well at this spot over the years fishing the eddy on the close side also along the close side of the swift run and in the tailout always catching my share of 10-14 inch white fish the odd cutthroat and some nice bull trout up to 18 inches, back in the early 80's I was camping here with family and friends and one of the men landed a beautiful 23 inch bull trout and ever since then I always give this spot on the river some serious attention hoping that one day I would get my own big bully outta this great spot but it just never happened until this night a couple years back.

 

On this particular evening after a campfire supper I let my wife "finish up" the dishes as I snuck out behind the tent to try my luck for some twilight trout things were going kinda slow with my only action being a missed opportunity at a smallish trout that went for my adams after a while with the sun down and darkness setting in I heard and then saw some swishing and swirling going on in the eddy on the far side of the river as I watched I could see some big fins and a big grey back swirling and swishing amongst the clusters of small flies on and above the surface this got me really excited.

 

For the next half hour I tried to get my adams across that river and land it in that eddy but not being the longest of casters (by a longshot) my best attempts only got to the far side of the swift run and then ripped down the current on the one or two occasions I made it across to the eddy there was no time to mend before the current ripped my fly line down stream and my adams went skittering very unnaturally over the slow water where the big shark was feeding. Even with all this disturbance on the surface it never fazed that big fish from swishing and swallowing those surface bugs and those big fins and that big back just kept torturing me.

 

By now it was pretty much dark out but there was some moonlight poking through the trees and giving the black of night a little visible light on the river. I thought about crossing but it is swift and deep both up and downstream for quite a ways so I was about to give up even though he was still over there I could here him and still make out his swishes with my eyes then I got an idea although I could not reach the far side with my fly rod I new in the past when I was a spin caster I had cast across to that eddy with spoons and spinners but this guy was feeding on flies on the surface and that's how I wanted to catch him so I went back to the campfire and grabbed my wifes spinning rod and tackle then tied my adams to the end of the mono and attached a large red and white bobber about 3 feet above the fly, I used the biggest bobber she had for its weight so that I could get it all the way across the river when I was ready to go the swishing had slowed down but he was still at it.

 

It took me a couple tries before I finally landed it in the right spot and although the swift run still caught the mono I was able to hold the rod high and get some time with the bobber floating in the eddy I could not see my dry but I just kept my eye on the bobbers vicinity for a strike what happened next surprised me but it shouldn't have.... that big aggressive mountain shark ignored my adams and went violently after my big red and white bobber like 3 times I quickly reeled in my rig cut off my little mayfly and tied on the biggest ugliest thing I had in my box which was a great big chernoble ant and I decided I would give it "one last cast".

 

I got the big rig across on my first attempt and that big ole bull hit that ant the second it hit the water and the fight was on when he got into that deep swift run It felt like I had a 15 pound trout on (well at least that is what I imagine a 15 pound trout would feel like) but once I muscled him to my side of the river the rest of the fight was quite easy and within a couple minutes I had in my hands my own 2 foot trout, I had accomplished something I had been wanting for more than 25 years and I managed to do it the best way with a dry fly well kind of. It was a great feeling.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my story my question for you guys is: Do you think I can count this as a fly fishing experience? and I would like to hear any of your stories about a makeshift success story for a great catch and even any stories about some of your "one last cast" memorable experiences or even just your thoughts and comments on my story thanks again for your time.

 

Cheers!! Diddy.

 

Here are a couple photos of my 2 foot friend.

 

 

[trout12]

Great job On the Bully! That definitely qualifies as a fly fishing experience, in fact that is a fantastic example of ingenuity on the river. Many times I have been in the same situation across stream myself on a raging mountain stream. That's one for the books, great job & great story.

[murray]

I loved the story. As for calling it a fly fishing experience, everyone will have a different take on that. What are your thoughts? That's the only thing that matters. Great story of perseverance. We should all be so lucky.

 

Murray

[PeteZahut]

I say who cares about calling it a flyfishing experience. Call it an ingenuity experience of how you beat the river and the fish. Good story. Actually don't categorize at all, it is just a good story and memory.

[bmckenney]

That's a big fish. Way to stay determined and think outside the fly box.

[Hawgstoppah]

You adjusted for the circumstances, did all you could to present a fly to this fine trout, and succeeded. Call it a freekin awesome job!

[mcleod52]

Nice story and since necessity is the mother of invention, and you did chuck a fly at him - it was a great fly fishing experience.

 

Stew

[peetso]

 

Do you think I can count this as a fly fishing experience?

 

 

 

 

If you have to ask the question . . . you probably already know the answer.