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3. The One That Got Away

I usually walked by this snag corner.


It yelled at me to take a photo.

So if it needs a photo...

It needs to be fished....

The photo is taken facing downstream....that is the way I fished it.

I put on a size 4 dumbell eyed bunny leech (black)

I fed the line downstream under the snag.

ALL in one motion the fish hit...turned..........2x leader.

My line came back empty ...no fly also....

Is thing nightmares are made of.

Any suggestions on how to fish this hole differently?

Len,

I have a couple of thoughts....

I suspect it's a Brown you're after, no?

The only tactic I'd change is go with a heavier leader/tippet, possibly one no longer than 4'. From what I see, the water appears somewhat turbid. Then I'd hit the hole an hour or so before the official sunrise. There's a real good chance that that he'll be out of his sancturary and in his established feeding lane.

Be patient and look for rythmic bulges and try to position the fly a foot or so up from them. When you strike, do so in the same direction he turns, chances are he'll turn in the opposite direction in an attempt to get away from the pressure. There's also a very good chance he'll come right at ya' after he makes his turn. So, don't try to play off the reel, strip line in, then fight from the reel when you have a little more room. Oh, and try to keep the rod low, playing a brute in tight quarters in the "classic" rod high, butt close to the chest only forces him to try and go deeper. I also wouldn't try to get any closer than 25-30'.

A "trick" I learned years ago when Steelheading, is to strum the line like a geetar they will turn and it's worked for me on Browns, 'Bows, Salmon, and nearly any other kind of fish I've played...

Failing that, if it's legal, I'd suggest doing a littl night fishing, using the same approach I've described.

Out here, fishing for trout at night is prohibited, no earlier than an hour before the official sunrise and no later than an hour after the officel sunset. Biggest Browns I've landed have always been within an hour before sunrise upto and mebbe an hour after the official sunrise, depending on how deep in the woods I am...Good luck and it can be done. FWIW.

Dano

was a nine foot leader...early morning...

yes...brown trout...

was using old 6/7 fiberglass Berkely Para-metric...Kurt Gowdy rod...
kinda soft rod...

I have a 5/6 sage fast action that is a little more stout.

This hole is 40 minutes off the road in best light.

Len,

Go with Sage. 9' tippet is too long, even a 7.5' is pushing it. What do you consider "early morning" to be?

Dano

this is 40 minutes from first light...

that is if i go directly to this hole.

I have a couple other named trout on way to this hole.

The short leaders sounds good...

maybe i need to start out half an hour before first light.

I gotta get it out from under that jam or it will do it again.

Yeah, sounds good.

Don't think you'll ever get him out of that hole, trick is to get him when he is out of his sancturary...Just make damn sure you sneak up real softly. You'll get him, I'm sure of that with your experience....

Dano

Hmmm, let's see place a 1/2 pound of C4 at the middle of the big log, set it for a 30 second detonation and get the heck out of the way.

This from the guy who won't fish a Green Weenie?

See, Matt, I don't get mad. I just get even. :)

Louis, please don't try to bring others down to your level. Fishing with explosives versus fishing with green weenies is again comparing apples and oranges, and again you make the wrong moral choice.

-Shawn

Shawn, I see you failed to respond to my attempt to call you out on the Honey Bug thread. Do I need to buy a chicken suit and follow you around on the stream?

Sorry, Louis, I haven't been following that one. I'll check it out and get back to you if I have the guts.

-Shawn