The Road to a 10lb Brown (Part 3)

Here it is folks. The final installment in the journey of slabbage. I am so thankful to have had a day like this on the river and can’t express how cool it is for it to come after my Dad had such a good day the day before. Fishing is great when you have good days you can share with Family and Friends. And this day is one that I will never forget.

The Night Before..

A little nagging voice was telling me to go back for more. Something was just right about the fishing on Saturday. My Old Man had pulled in slab after slab and I knew most of the puzzle pieces. The trick would be getting the same puzzle two days in a row. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to go back. I pinged Ben and showed him the fish porn from earlier in the day. Needless to say it didn’t take much convincing. The plan was in place. We were going to try and be on the water around 7:30 the next day. 

Flies… Well eggs…. Needed more. My Dad had figured out the color. I didn’t have the correct size but I had the color down close enough. Time to crank out a few dozen. I like to fish Otter Eggs. Some peeps will complain that these aren’t flies but in my mind a synthetic is a synthetic is a synthetic. If you are against Otter Eggs but tie up Rubber Legs I’d have to ask you what the difference is. In any case I cranked out a few dozen Tango in 8mm and 10mm. If you haven’t tried these yet you are missing out. VERY strong takes on this color. 

When we pulled up to the gauging station parking lot we had company. It wasn’t terrible but it was going to be a crowded day. The day before had been crowded too though and that didn’t stop us from catching some nice fish. It was just a matter of getting a little exercise while finding open water. I do remember thinking that the puzzle had changed though before even taking my first cast. The weather the day before was nasty. Not cold but very cloudy with lots of wind sprinkled with snow off and on. The sun was out Sunday morning. The wind was minimal. The air was colder. So much for my puzzle pieces. But hey that’s fishing. 

We started out on a stretch of water that Jon Kleis and Clients had done very well on the day before. I couldn’t believe that run was open when we walked by it so we decided to stop and give it a go. My confidence was way up and I was thinking of a hookup on the first cast. That came and went and I figured I’d settle for second cast. That came and went and I knew I’d have to get the gears turning. I knew it was early and cold so my expectations were probably a little unrealistic. I started going smaller and after twenty minutes of tweaking I picked up a bow on a midge. Ten minutes later I picked up a cut. Ten minutes after that and things were at a standstill. Kleis did not leave many players in this run!

Downstream we went. Runs had filled up pretty quickly but we lucked out and one of my favorite bends was open just downstream from the fence. Nice bend with a head end riffle that turns into a medium paced four foot run that tails out into a back eddy / deep pool at the end of the bend. Really easy to spot fish on this bend. They hold on the sides of the medium paced four foot water and if a cut turns you get a big flash of yellow, orange, and red. The big bows just look like dark shadows. The fish also move up into the head end riffle and you can pick out cutty fins pretty easily. 

There were at least three fish and one monster of the deep that I could see. There was a HUGE dark shadow on my side of the medium paced water. Big ol bow! I grabbed my egg rig and let er rip. He took one look at my monster tango egg and decided he had enough of that nonsense. Feeling totally dejected I decided to concentrate on the nice cuts in the riffle. Nothing…. At this time there was a good midge hatch going on so I decided to stop dicking around with plastic eggs. 

Picked up the midge rig and started making tweaks. It took about ten minutes but I eventually hooked one. They were lined up just on the far side of the medium paced water between the four foot run section and the beginning of the back eddy. VERY hard to get right. I needed my arm to be three feet longer. Took some serious high sticking with plenty of weight to get down fast. Takes were barely noticeable. There was a very defined sweet spot in the seam and you almost had to zen set to hook up.  I picked up a few but things started to die down. Then……

I hear Ben, “Jamie”! I look upstream and Ben’s rod is doubled over and he’s heading downstream fast. This means only one thing. Big fish hooked. I dropped my way-too-expensive rod like a college elective and grabbed my way-too-big net and headed upstream. I saw cutty tail first. It was a good fish! These fish are so colorful in the water when they are moving. When they are holding still in the water though it is another story completely. They can disappear before your eyes. 

We were in a perfect area to land this fish. I was in a knee deep riffle and Ben walked the fish down right into the net. Sweet fish. Took a large chamois leech. This fly has been killing it everywhere I’ve been lately. Hadn’t worked the day before but it looked like the leech game was back on. Midges and leeches were the ticket this day. 

After a quick pic we fished for a while longer before deciding to head back toward the truck. Most of the runs on the way back were taken so we made it back to the gauging station pretty quickly. Two dudes were fishing the head end of the run but the tail end was open. I had missed a slab there the day before on the way back to the parking lot so I figured what the hell. Worth a few casts. I asked the guys at the head of the pool if they minded me fishing the tail end and they said go for it. I took a few casts and hooked and landed about an 8” bow on an egg. Then……..

I get goose bumps just thinking about this. I had no idea what madness was about to hit me. I took a cast directly upstream up above where my dink had hit and started slowly stripping slack line in. Indicator paused a little and I lifted the rod……. HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!! There was a MONSTER brown trout tailwalking on the water! This thing was on my line!!!! All the dude upstream from me could manage was a loud, “Woahhhh”! 

“BEN!!! BEN!!! NET!!!” Ben was just above the gauging station and I was hoping to God that he was still there. After a few tense moments of my monster trout hanging deep I felt a HUGE head shake and run. Ben turned the corner just in time to see this think take off vertically into the air and come down like a boulder hitting the water. There was no way I was going to land this fish. Ben got out something. I don’t remember what he said but I could tell that he knew exactly what he needed to do in order to help me land this fish. 

Remember my way-too-big net? It isn’t way-too-big. I’ve only come close to filling this net up once before and that was an 11.5lb bow. This thing was going to give that fish a run for its money. You can do two things when you have a big fish on. You can let it go where it wants and hope that it stays buttoned up long enough to net or you can take advantage of any split second advantage you get and go all in for a net. 

This big boy made a mistake and decided to come up again but this time without a shamoo impression. He came up and started head shaking on the surface. I got right on top of him and got my rod as high as I could directly above him to try and keep my line away from his body and his head up. I told Ben, “Net him now! Net it! Do it now!” I knew this was putting Ben on the spot but I didn’t think I would be able to keep him on if he got his head down for another run with the way this thing was freaking out. Then….

Ben took a stab with the net and came up with nothing but PIG! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! I absolutely lost my mind! This was a true beast. A totally clean specimen. An absolute masterpiece of nature. It was HEAVY and LONG. BIG head and HUGE shoulders. Big spots and that nice blue green iridescence on the gill plates. The only blemish was a big ol’ chamois leach sticking out of its mouth. Time stood still. This beautiful fish, Ben and I were the only things on planet earth at that point. Fishing nirvana. It was surreal holding this river gem up for a quick photo. It was bliss holding this trout in the water in the recovery room. It was one of the best feelings in the world when it almost knocked me back when it took off after only a few seconds of recovery. I just sat back in the river getting soaked after it swam off. I couldn’t get up. I just sat there for a second with an ear to ear goofy grin on my face. The tug is a drug folks and it doesn’t get any better than that. 

I was stunned. A high five from Ben brought me back to reality and I had to let out a scream. “AAAAhhhh”!   I was on top of the world….

 I don’t know how many October trips I’ve had up to the Dream Stream looking for a monster brown like this but it would happen for me on an early spring afternoon. An afternoon that is burned in my brain forever. An afternoon where I was truly living life and feeling what it has to offer to the fullest. Even if only for a brief moment. Fly Fishing will give you this without having to jump out of planes, or race around tracks, or climb the highest peaks. Fly Fishing will give you a true connection to nature. At that moment nothing else matters, no problems exist. This is why I love Fly Fishing and why I will be walking through rivers for the rest of my life.