skibum
11-25-02, 09:32 AM
Ok. After 20+ years of fishing for trout. I have not caught anything bigger than the chunkie 18" brown's here and there.. And believe me it's been a few years since I have even come close to that.. Well I am happy to say that I finally got the BIG ONE!!
Went to Ami.DH on sat morning.. It was a tad on the chilly side and i felt kinda stupid being the only car in the house/parking at the 53 bridge. But after warming up the waders, I work the water in front of the house for an hour or 2. Catching far fewer fish than I had 2 weeks prior. Other sane people started showing up as the weather warmed. So I started up the trail to the 1st falls and stopped in the pool just below. Caught a couple small ones, and I was about ready to move up river when I saw others were already there. Oh well, I just stayed where I was for a bit. Nothing was really hitting for anyone else I saw fishing so I figured I was in as good a place as any for the moment. Now I would like to say that at this point I was using my flyrod but since I had no way of casting, standing on this bank, I had my lil friend (special thanks to Spinningfool for this idea) Panther/WB on the spinning rod. Already had a couple on the flyrod for the day, so felt good to throw the PM/WB in the tight cover..
Anyways, had the PM/WB bouncing off the bottom and letting it hang in the current on it's way back upstream when all of a sudden everything came to a stop. Time stood still, the wind died for a sec, not a sound could be heard except for this thought that came into my head.. I thought... (---Huh????---) My retrieve was haulted by what I thought was a large PM/WB eating log or something. Then the first noise I heard was my drag being tested and the pole bending 5X what it has been a sec before. Next thing I see is this very large tail that had just emerged from the water. I really did'nt think I had a trout at first, I guess there could be a big bass in this pool, but I kinda doubt it. So as I work him closer, he rolls again and I can see this time that it's a bow, and a really BIG bow at that. Now I start to wonder how am I gonna get this thing out of the water. Thinking it's gonna break off at any sec, and I'm gonna dive in after it, I reach down and run my fingers up thru his gills. It's the only way I could get him out of the water. Dropped the rod so I could us my other hand to help support his weigh, I look around and there's nobody around. OH NO!!!! The Gods could not be this cruel and not let another soul see me holding this fish!! After yelling a few joyful words into the mountain air for not remembering the digital camera I had wanted to bring this morning, I layed him down next to my rod so I could get an idea how big he was. He was way past the normal marks I have on my rod showing 12" and 14"... So I marked his location on my rod and returned him to what is now my FAV fishing hole, or till the next big one.. Once I got home, ran into the garage, where's that **** tape measure..
10min. later it's found and to my joy I discover I had caught a 21.5" RAINBOW.
I have no idea how much he weighted, but if anyone has some ideas on this I would really like to know your guess's. He was by far the biggest trout I have ever caught and the one I have been chasing for over 20 years. It could'nt have come on a better fishing day http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif
[This message has been edited by skibum (edited 11-25-2002).]
[This message has been edited by skibum (edited 11-25-2002).]
Went to Ami.DH on sat morning.. It was a tad on the chilly side and i felt kinda stupid being the only car in the house/parking at the 53 bridge. But after warming up the waders, I work the water in front of the house for an hour or 2. Catching far fewer fish than I had 2 weeks prior. Other sane people started showing up as the weather warmed. So I started up the trail to the 1st falls and stopped in the pool just below. Caught a couple small ones, and I was about ready to move up river when I saw others were already there. Oh well, I just stayed where I was for a bit. Nothing was really hitting for anyone else I saw fishing so I figured I was in as good a place as any for the moment. Now I would like to say that at this point I was using my flyrod but since I had no way of casting, standing on this bank, I had my lil friend (special thanks to Spinningfool for this idea) Panther/WB on the spinning rod. Already had a couple on the flyrod for the day, so felt good to throw the PM/WB in the tight cover..
Anyways, had the PM/WB bouncing off the bottom and letting it hang in the current on it's way back upstream when all of a sudden everything came to a stop. Time stood still, the wind died for a sec, not a sound could be heard except for this thought that came into my head.. I thought... (---Huh????---) My retrieve was haulted by what I thought was a large PM/WB eating log or something. Then the first noise I heard was my drag being tested and the pole bending 5X what it has been a sec before. Next thing I see is this very large tail that had just emerged from the water. I really did'nt think I had a trout at first, I guess there could be a big bass in this pool, but I kinda doubt it. So as I work him closer, he rolls again and I can see this time that it's a bow, and a really BIG bow at that. Now I start to wonder how am I gonna get this thing out of the water. Thinking it's gonna break off at any sec, and I'm gonna dive in after it, I reach down and run my fingers up thru his gills. It's the only way I could get him out of the water. Dropped the rod so I could us my other hand to help support his weigh, I look around and there's nobody around. OH NO!!!! The Gods could not be this cruel and not let another soul see me holding this fish!! After yelling a few joyful words into the mountain air for not remembering the digital camera I had wanted to bring this morning, I layed him down next to my rod so I could get an idea how big he was. He was way past the normal marks I have on my rod showing 12" and 14"... So I marked his location on my rod and returned him to what is now my FAV fishing hole, or till the next big one.. Once I got home, ran into the garage, where's that **** tape measure..
10min. later it's found and to my joy I discover I had caught a 21.5" RAINBOW.
I have no idea how much he weighted, but if anyone has some ideas on this I would really like to know your guess's. He was by far the biggest trout I have ever caught and the one I have been chasing for over 20 years. It could'nt have come on a better fishing day http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif
[This message has been edited by skibum (edited 11-25-2002).]
[This message has been edited by skibum (edited 11-25-2002).]