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3. First Landlocked Salmon!!!

Hey guys! I don't mean to boast, but I am ridiculously excited about my latest catch.

To preface the post, I have fished a lot in the last couple of days for lake-run fish. This is not known as productive fishing, and I spent a lot of time fishing, but not very much time catching, so it's a good thing I actually like fishing.

Anyway, yesterday was my only productive day. I caught an average-sized creek chub (6-8") and a really nice-sized creek chub (14-16"). I am trying to train myself not to be a Salmonid elitist, and the latter fish really put up a nice fight, i.e. he deserves to be mentioned. Shortly after that, I hooked a nice-sized (18-20") brown, but lost him about five feet from the shore; he threw the hook. The disappointment was rather crushing.

Moving on, I found myself on another creek, and as I was drawing back for one of the hundreds of casts I had executed that day, my rod doubled over, and I ended up with the above 22" landlocked salmon; I have to believe that the landlock decided I had worked hard enough for him at that point.

It was a beautiful fish, and while the fight was short-lived, the acrobatics provided me with visuals I hope never to forget. I had to cut the fly from my tippet (the take was pretty aggressive), but given the short fight, he needed no reviving whatsoever, and swam off just as quickly as he arrived on shore. It's a memory I will have forever, and I just thought I would share it with you all.

Have a good day.

Chris.

EDIT

I never expected this, but I landed the second landlocked salmon of my life within four days of the first, and this time, it was a beautiful 21" female. She is very reminiscent of the large female I fished to (and possibly hooked up with) a few days back. I don't know if she is the same fish, but I have to wonder. I drifted a "double-bunny" streamer through her lie, and pulled the trigger a bit early when I pulled the fly out of her mouth. Realizing my mistake, I executed a second cast, and watched in slow motion, as she took the fly, clamped down, and turned; then, I set the hook.

Anyway, I said this about the male, but I think it's much more safe to say that these first two salmon are bound to be the largest I will ever catch, and as this time of year goes, they could be the only ones I ever catch. Needless to say, I am feeling a bit spoiled.

It's been a few years and I still haven't forgotten my first (and only) landlocked salmon from the Finger Lakes. Those acrobatics stick with you! It's neat that you got a nice hook-jawed male, too.

I'm guessing that the chubs weren't actually creek chubs, but fallfish, a larger species in the same genus. 14-16" would be huge (but probably not impossible) for a creek chub, and much more realistic for a fallfish. It's still a nice one, though. :)

It's funny that you said about the mis-identified creek chubs - I was about to post exactly the same thing. I just had a hard time believing that a creek chub could get that big (something about it just didn't seem right), so I checked into various species that matched the description, and converged on fallfish. You just beat me to the punch. Regardless, it was a really nice non-trout fish.

Chris.

Fallfish are pretty cool. I've never caught one that big around Ithaca. I did get into a school of big ones surface-feeding during a hatch on the very lower Beaverkill one August. I caught a few over 18 inches there, along with a little smallmouth bass and a red-breasted sunfish... and no trout!

Excellent, Chris. A beautiful fish. Congratulations on your catch and your perseverance.

-Shawn

Beautiful fish - were you on Salmon Creek?

Gorgeous fish. Congratulations!!

WOW amazing story and fish, Congratulations!!!