Bull Or Brown?

[SteveM]

On Friday I fished a creek down south; fishing was slow, so I drove to another section of the same creek to try my luck. Caught a few bows &

a couple cutts & cuttbows- very slow for this creek. Almost gave up, but decided to fish one more stretch; had fished this area once last year

with no luck at all. Landed a couple nice cutts in the first couple pools, decided to walk to one more; I remembered that it had a tiny creek

dumping in there- might be worth a shot. That pool made my day, & then some! First cast, a fish slammed my nymph- a 14" cutt. As I was

playing this fish, I saw a MUCH bigger fish trying very hard to eat the cutty! Pulse started pounding as I envisioned catching a big bull trout.

I released the cutt & grabbed my other rod, already rigged with a smallish streamer with a wet fly tied behind it- this was my 2WT, but I had

8lb tippet on it. Figured I might miss my shot at a biggun if I took the time to retie on my other rod, so what the hey? First cast, another nice

cutt on the wet. Next cast, a 15-16" brown with that big hawg trying to steal him off my line; I assumed it was a bull because that's the only

fish I've seen (besides pike) exhibit this aggressive behaviour. I caught about 14-15 trout from that pool, all hooked in about a 10ft square

area, lost a couple more that went aerial(cuttbows?), & missed several more hooksets. Twice I thought I had the big one; first one turned out

to be a 17" brown, hooked in the arsehole (OW!), the next was a beautiful 19" brown. Most were caught on the wet fly; then I switched back

to a two-nymph rig on my 3WT. Caught a few more browns & bows before hooking the fish of the day. This fish was powerful and stayed deep

at first; he tore up, down, & across the pool several times before erupting from the water in front of me. This was a brown that made my 19"er

look small; at least several inches longer, & way thicker. I was still grinning from ear to ear a minute later when my tippet parted between my

two flies, leaving that monster brown with a San Juan Worm in his yap, & me with my GRHE & a great memory of one that got away.

After a few more casts with no hits, I headed back to the car with a smile on my face; that pool had turned a pretty slow day into one that I

won't soon forget. The picture of that big brown exploding out of the water is burned into my brain.

Now, back to the topic: have any of y'all ever had a brown chase down a fish you were landing? I never got a good look at the one chasing

my fish because the water was very off-colour, but I assumed it was a bull. After hooking that big broonie, I started to wonder if browns ever

did that. I've never seen or heard of it, but maybe in that stained water they get a little braver (dumber?). What do y'all think?

 

Steve M (Bob Loblaw)

[toolman]

Nice report.

I would guess that it was a Bull trout chasing your 15"-16" Brown trout. Big Browns do occasionally attack when you have a small trout 8"-10" on your line, but a 15"-16" trout getting attacked is most likely by a big Bull. IMO

[OneMoreLastCast]

Browns can be aggressive in smaller creeks. I've had big browns come out from under the bank to chase the little Brookies on my line occassionally on Stauffer. But I agree with Toolman, it was most likely a Bull Trout because it came back a few times at different fish.

I've seen Browns take a quick swipe at a fish on my line, but they never seem as persistant as the Bull Trout.

 

Edited By MTB...Just because.

[clarki]

hmmmm... bulls, browns, cutts,'bows, cuttbows, what river could this be?? so many in alberta with all those species LOL

 

M

[Hawgstoppah]

Nice report. I almost wonder if it's the same creek I stumbled across yesterday in my wanderings

[cdock]

Great report. I also think it was a bull. SOunds like you found a nice little spot for yourself. Nice fishing!

[trailhead]

I will answer your query in the affirmative. I had a 20 inch brown chase a smaller brown I had hooked on a EHC all around the pool. The kicker was I had a beadhead dropper under the dry and the larger fish ended up hooking himself in the mouth on the nymph, the small fish got off and I landed the bigger one. I also thought it was a bull at first, because that big brown was very aggressive and persistent.

[SteveM]

I guess there's always the possibility the big fish was after the other fly in the cast; first time was on a 2-nymph rig, second time the brown I

was landing was on a wet fly trailed behind a streamer. Sure looked as though he was trying to eat that other fish, though.

[maxwell]

ive seen a few big broons too chase down there young on the bow

[LynnF]

dunno what it was...just wanted to say that it was a great story and sounds like a helluva day!

[cdock]

Off topic but Donnamatrix...love the avatar! LOL!