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3. Monster Brown

I happened to have been standing about 60' above a fellow who had caught a nice 20" brown about 45 minutes prior. He was a good caster and was throwing a slack line downstream angle cast to a fish he saw rising on the far bank. All of a sudden he let out a Whoop! and started to holler and was all excited. I did see he hooked a very good fish, I thought maybe as big as 23". He yelled to me "I need net help". Personally since he had a nice big net I think he should of worn the fish out and netted it himself. However, being the nice guy that I am, I waded down and unclipped my large Brodin "Ghost" net. This is a big net, 25" long. Well the fish was not fighting very much due to the very cold, 48 degree, water.

He had backed up as far as he could go as there was heavy cover all along the bank. I told him to calm down and take his time. I put the tip of my net into the water and after a few attempts of the guy to get the fish to come to me he was able to lead it right in front of me and I thrust the net forward and lifted the biggest freaking brown trout I have ever seen caught on a dry fly anywhere! Believe me when I say it was a leviathan! 25" long, thick, wide, deep, all those adjectives one thinks of when talking about a very big trout. It also had as nice a coloring as any big trout I've seen. So with no further ado here are some of the pictures I took with my smart phone. The pictures don't really do justice to the sheer length and girth of this gorgeous trout. BTW he was using 6X fluorocarbon and a #20 BWO emerger. If the water temperature had been 62 instead of 48 degrees I don't believe he would ever of landed this trout. Ask me if I had wished I'd caught it - Duh, Hell yea!

Look at the width of the tail!

Nice (make that REALLY nice) fish!

My grandsons were telling me about the '20/20' Club, trout over 20" caught on a sz 20 (or smaller?) fly- not sure it's anecdotal but this fish surely qualified. My biggest Brown ever went 18 1/2", and that was nearly 27 years ago...haven't bested that yet.

Things only a fly-fisher would notice...is that a goober of fish-slime hanging off his pectoral fin in the first picture!?

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

What a beautiful fish! That is definitely the fish of a lifetime. Thanks for the photos.

That is some fish...you just don't see trout like that caught...I believe you hit it Matt, the cold water slowed it down a little.

I know of a few Delaware trout caught in recent years that big, but a few is about it. One of the Guides out of Catskillflies caught a 27" brown on a #16 sulphur emerger of his own design [now one of the best selling flies at that shop!] but that was some years ago. My buddy at Dette Trout Flies caught a 27.5 inch brown on a comparadun a few years ago. Those are about all I know of that are that big.

Great shots Matt, it looks like had it not been for you they may not have photographic proof either...and you know what they say----no picture, it didn't happen! CJ

No, I don't believe that is any slime or moss hanging on the pectoral fin. If you look at the pictures it is present in both of them. I think it just an anomaly of that fin development.



I agree 100% there are just too many fish stories out there and today with most everyone carrying their cell phone onto the river with them there is no excuse for not taking a picture of a really big fish caught on a dry fly - meaning 22" or longer. Anything less than 22" and it's just a nice fish but no reason to get very excited.



Back before the advent of the modern tippet technology where you can get 5X breaking at 5.5# and 6X at 3.6# it was tough to get into the "Club" because 5X broke at about 3# and 6X broke at 1.2# (I remember the old spools of Gladding tippet material) The outer housing had a specific color for every X size. BTW 7X broke at .6#. I clearly remember standing in Armstrong Spring Creek around 1969 and hooking and landing a 19" rainbow on Gladding 6X. I can still remember exactly where I was standing and how excited I was. Now it is pretty much ho-hum to land 20" - 22" fish on 6X and I've caught at least a dozen 22+ - 24.25" on 5X with never any fear of breaking the tippet.

Great netting job Matt! :)

That is a beautiful fish! Very healthy looking.

Spence

Look close at his fly patch...Looks like he went through some flies.

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL fish!! Wow, the colors, and size...that guy had one of his best days of his life and you got to see it! Kudos all the way around!

Jonathon

Nice net job! I'd hate to bear the responsibility of netting the fish of a lifetime for a stranger.

Don't think I wasn't having thoughts of "what if I screw this up and hit the tippet with the net and it breaks off".

I've netted thousands of nice fish for myself but nothing this big for myself that was non migratory (my biggest was 24 1/4") or a stranger so when he called out for help I was saying to myself "Why doesn't his buddy go down and help him out?"

I've been in that situation. You see a guy's going to have his hands full landing a fish and you don't want to see him lose it so you offer your help. It's a tough call, but never have I landed anything near that size. What pressure!

Way to step up Matt! We all know "shit happens" but your experience may have saved that fish for the guy. Did he let it go?

I got called into duty last year when JohnW was visiting the Au Sable with me. He hooked a 23" Brown on the South Branch. We were in an Au Sable River boat and the guide had to hold the boat in the river. He told me I'd have to land the fish.

I climbed over the cooler and grabbed the net just as John was pulling the fish toward the boat. Everything was tight and I thought, "If we are going to lose this fish it will be now." I pushed the net under the trout and it fell into the net.

I think all three of us were relieved beyond belief!

Sometimes there just isn't any time to debate what to do, you just do it.

Nothings guaranteed until the fat lady sings, or the anglers grinning in the picture.

Spence

I caught an 18" in the early evening years back. I had an early version digital camera that was a tad complicated. I was explaining, as quickly as I could, to a friend how to use the damn thing...I posed for a pic and the trout did a hearty wiggle and flew out of my hands and in to the river. I have a really weird pic of me empty handed looking like a goofus!

Gorgeous brown. the AuSable/Manistee (MI) area is well known for browns in the 25"-30" + range caught mostly under cover of darkness mostly on Hexagenia imitations using 2x or even stouter tippets.6x makes a bit of a different story.

Spence,

Here is a picture of me looking pretty goofy as I am dropping about a 8# silver up in Alaska.

That's funny, Matt! At least you can see the fish in your pic, mine was the goofy look and empty hands.

Stuff does happen, no?! :)

Spence

Nice camera angle. Almost looks like the fish is releasing the fisherman.

TOOOOO funny, Matt! Yeah, even when life works out and we have success, we STILL don't get it quite right! Times like these demand a good sense of humor!!! If you can't laugh at your own life, you're not doing it right! You've gotta push it and laugh when you got too far and goof it up!

Thanks for the smiles and the chuckles, Matt!

Jonathon

Well done, Matt. What a fish!