Tuesday, March 17, 2009

First Trophy of the Year

So every year there is always that first day out on the river after the long Winter. Chris Murphy and I spent that day on the water a week or so ago. It was good to be out on the water regardless of catching fish or not.

Fishing was slow in the morning but did pick up in the afternoon. We fished deep and slow but only managed to pick up about 6 fish throughout the day. I did manage to land a 20" brown which was the first trophy caught for the year. The browns on the North Branch are pretty notorious for being fiesty and active in the Months of January, February, March and April. This is the post spawn time when they are looking to put some weight back on after their spawning activity in November and December.

The brown I was able to hook took a #2 6th Man being stripped back up through a riffle from about a 60' cast the straightened out off of a good 5' deep run. Basically, after the fly swung through and straightened out I would strip about two inches and let the fly flutter in the riffle. Chris Murphy who was on the oars that day was laughing at me because I made the strip retrieve into a song. As I was counting the seconds on the pause and humming along, I was hammered by something. It felt big what ever it was. After a few seconds on solid pull on my rod, it crested to the surface and boiled. Chris and I both saw it. It was big, but we weren't sure how big.

Every time someone hooks into a big fish, I always have the split second thought about this fish possibly being huge. I am not talking 20-25" huge. I am talking 30" plus huge. Some day, someone is going to hook into a pig like that and it will be a very fun day.

Regardless, that thought went through my head as I fought this fish. It held strong. It turned into the deeper run which flows beside the riffle. I coulnd't budge her one inch. I could feel her head shake and pump the rod. There was no doubt this would be a trophy fish. But, would it be that true monster that I know swims this river?

No, it wasn't. But the fish I did hook, was solid, beautiful and was the only fish I hooked and landed that day. It was a good start to the year.

I will end though, with some thoughts about the huge browns that swim the North Branch. We have seen them. These are the 28-30"+ fish that roam deep. We have caught 26" fish, but not 30" and longer. As an angler that targets trophy trout, when I fish, this is what I am after. Some day, someone in my boat is going to hook into a massive fish and when we do, that day will be a very good day.