Had THE most frustrating day of fishing I've ever had today (I think) and it was still a good day. Marty, Mike, and I left the Springs around 8 and got down to the river around 9. We parked at the speed limit lot and decided to hike down to Valco Bridge and start there. We passed a lot of nice water to get to the bridge and when we did it was packed. Going to have to leave a little earlier than 8 to get that hole! This is a picture of Mike fishing just above the hole I was going to throw a little tantrum on later on in the day.We walked back up stream and started fishing a nice hole we had passed on the way in. By the time we got back upstream the nice runs were starting to fill in so we figured we better take what we could get. I hooked a nice rainbow and had him close to the net and the hook pulled out. It was probably about a 18" rainbow. Didn't get another hit out of that hole.
We walked up stream and down but the place was really starting to get packed. We decided to walk back down to the bridge to see if, by some stroke of luck, it had opened up. It hadn't. But there was a little room on the other side of the river so I decided to give it a shot. It was a long deep stretch of water that ran under the bridge. I tied on a size 12 Tungstone and a size 16 red Copper John and pinched on about a pound of Mojo Mud. I adjusted my strike indicator to allow for about 12' of leader to sink into the hole and then started dredging away. I moved down under the bridge and on about my second cast my indicator dove and I set the hook only to feel my rod tip hit the bottom of the bridge (not a good hook set).
As soon as this fish was hooked he ran like a torpedo upstream and came up to the surface and swam along the surface for a good 8 foot run. He was HUGE! I could see Marty walking upstream so I yelled "Marty! I've got a BIG ONE". After the initial surface run the hog I had tied into hug the bottom and didn't do much. I couldn't horse him in because I had light tippet on. I had to be patient and just try to wear him out. Marty made it back down and there was another fisher who offered some net assistance down stream from me. There were about 7 people watching at this point since I had yelled at the top of my lungs to Marty. For about 10 minutes the fish just held in deep water. I eventually was able to move him downstream out from under the bridge into shallower water. He was the biggest brown I had ever hooked. The guy just downstream from me said, "Oh my God, that is huge". I positioned myself along side of the fish just downstream from him and decided to give him a little side pressure to see if I could get him moving to the bank. I wanted him to turn so I could lift straight up on his head and have him come up to the surface for a chance at a net. Never got the chance though because as soon as I turned my rod the hook pulled out and everyone there gasped in unison. I just hung my head and took a deep breath. I had just missed the fish of a lifetime. What can you do? I pulled my fly in and it was demolished! The browns teeth had just shredded it. Even though I missed him it was awesome hooking and fighting him. It would have been unreal to land that fish. I will not forget this fish and I know where he lives now :-)
The rest of the morning and early afternoon were tough. It was packed, not a lot hatching, and the fish just didn't seem interested in much. I hooked and landed a nice 18" rainbow (shown above) but didn't get another hit. Around 2 I found a nice hole to fish and decided to fish the tail end of it where the water was deeper and slower. I saw some black midges hatching so I tied on a size 22 Black Beauty. I had an orange Soft Milking Egg for my top fly. I took a few casts and waited as my rig SLOWLY drifted downstream. Not much current in this section of the run. I thought to myself, "this is some seriously boring water to fish", but I knew it was good water. Another few casts later my indicator made a beeline for the far shore and I set the hook. It was a good fish but I didn't know how big. He made some long runs and stayed deep so I knew it was nice. He threw some serious head shakes at me which bent my rod and shook my arm. After about 10 minutes he started coming in and I got a good look at him. He was a really fat, BRICK red, rainbow about 20" long. It surprised me because I didn't think he was that big. He was tiring out quickly and I pulled my net out. As he was moving to the surface a little dinky trout came up and hit my top fly! Since when to trout eggs dance along the surface of the water????!! He got hooked on the top fly and I had two fish on! I knew this was BAD because the chances of landing a big trout with another trout pulling on the line was slim to none. Sure enough they ran away from each other and broke both of my flies off. "YOU LITTLE SH!!!!!!TTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ahhhhhhhhhh....!!!!!!! I wanted to dive in, grab the little fish blocker by the tail, bend him over my knee, and spank his little arse!
Standing there up to my waist in water with no flies on the line with my head ready to explode. This was all the fishing I could handle at this point and decided to call it. It was actually a really fun day. Anytime you hook an 8lb trout it is a good day! Great fishing, great friends, and now the Broncos will beat the Patriots and life is good!
* Editor's Note 1/15/12 - Broncos and the big one that got away are both home, beat up, resting, and wondering what could have been. Only difference is the big one that got away was victorious.
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