Yesterday my man and I went to check out a location that I was given a heads up on by my fellow fishy friend David….a place with some staging pre-spawners. We mostly caught big brown trout, but there were a few rainbows and even a few brookies mixed in as well – in the few hours that were were there we lost count on how many fish we’d caught, I’d guess 30+. They were jumping out of the water everywhere – feeding on almost anything – dries, streamers, midges! Definitely the biggest fish I’ve landed on my fly rod so far. Thank goodness for my Nomad Mid-Length net. I really couldn’t have landed them myself without it! I <3 Nomad! We had so much fun. After a stressful week, it was just what the doctor ordered.
And FYI I got ‘schooled’ on Facebook and Instagram about fish slime/bacteria — apparently I did a bad thing by putting the the fish down, and then releasing it etc. So next time I’ll think twice about how I go about taking my fish photo ops. #savethefish So, let’s please move on now and be happy. Thanks.
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It’s okay to “get schooled”… if you don’t know, you don’t know. while I practice catch and release now – in my misguided youth I pretty much killed every fish I caught. We’d only throw back the little ones. Even though I am converted to C&R – it is okay to harvest any hatchery fish – IMHO. In fact I wish they would just shut down all hatcheries. A waste of money and degradation of the gene pool…
Mike,
When I was a little girl, every fish we caught was taken home and eaten. It wasn’t until I started fly fishing last year that I was opened to the idea of the C&R mentality…but sometimes people can get a little pushy and go overboard with it IMO. I fish for therapy, for fun. While appreciate learning and being taught, I get frustrated when someone ruins my experience by taking things too far. That’s all.
Jen
I especially like the “grumpy brown” picture. Looks like an unforgettable day!
Jen that fish will be fine. You have done very little harm and in fact your advocacy for the fishes far out weighs any harm you might cause you aquatic friends. So keep up the good work.
Mike I agree one hundred percent regarding the put and take and put and die hatcheries.
Nice pictures Jen and some good fish too.
Okay…where is this place?
I agree. These people are ridiculous . What great fish!!!! And they are perfectly fine!
Please keep this place safe. There are browns in prespawn everywhere. Go fish and you will find them. I’m usually the only fly fisherman there and is like to keep it that way.
Don’t worry David – I have divulged to no one its location.
It only gets better, Jen!
Nice fish, Jen. Congrats on the biggest on a fly.
But I got no credit… Gah! Haha
My apologies. See the update. Thank you again!
Wow, what a great day for the two of you, sounds like you needed it. Great looking fish. I did not know about the slime/bacteria either. Enjoyed reading David’d blog.
Great report, great fish. Yeah some folks get a little hyper about protecting every fish. I agree that laying them on the ground will decrease their survivability, but in the end, it is still just a fish and it sounds like the river is quite healthy. I doubt there was any additive mortality. Glad you all had fun.
Fly Fishermen are (mostly) rightfully so concerned about the handling of fish and some are not afraid to step on peoples feelings. Which I don’t agree with BTW…
When you come to this level of fishing – it’s like training for your black belt (or brown trout belt for you) in Karate. You do now understand their passion and protection of the fish (and future gene pool) is paramount in most of our minds. Watch the movie (DVD) Rivers of The Lost Coast… you’ll fully understand why we fly fishermen are so concerned.
http://www.riversofalostcoast.com/
Tight Lines & Peace of mind, Jen!
Oh and PS – great photos! You are the master of Instagram.
Wonderful Photos! Looks like quite a trip!
GREAT photos Jen!
Awesome fish! I caught some of the biggest browns ever last week on the Provo River in Utah. It was a huge boost for me! Can’t wait to fish more this fall.
Beautiful fish! I noticed your Lamson Guru, I love that reel and all of their reels for that matter.
nice day, nice pics….
Oky doke, after all the posts just wanted to share. No schooling, though, Jen, just observations. Most, if not all of us at one point in our fishing careers have not handled fish “properly” whatever that is and there ARE definitely different definitions. Anyone who says he/she has never beached a fish, never held it out of the water too long, never played it too long, never fished over spawning fish, whatever, is just not just being honest. Guides, the guys and gals who make their living from making certain fish populations and good handling are propagated, can also be guilty of keeping a fish from freedom for too long, so they can get the perfect “grip and grin” for their clients, and post it on their website for marketing. Often times this takes 3 people: the guide, the client and the photog. How long does it take to arrange that perfectly? And NO ONE takes just a single photo, but several. And the clients if new, play the fish too long, but think a guide is going to tell them “hurry up, horse that thing on in, rookie”? This is NOT meant to rip guides; I have been one and love them generally. I have and have seen plenty of folks, guide/no guide, beach WILD STEELHEAD and SALMON as the only option to landing it. If you are alone, sometimes no other option, right? No one I know has a 20′+ armspan to net a feisty 5lb native fish caught on a 14′ spey rod with another 10′ or more of line outside the tip top. That math doesn’t work! These are native and often endangered fish, too, not non-native species such as browns. Personally I have been guilty of the following and more: out with (my) children or newbies and they catch a “good” fish which we all want to record. They may not have played the fish as promptly as we would have liked. Then, they are not proficient in handling the fish for the pic, getting the fly rod in the pic, dropping the fish etc so I am “guilty” of leaving the fly in too long so if it squirms out of their untrained hands there is a chance to pick it up and try again. Sometimes a net or hemos are not available. Should we even fish trout if water is above 65? Probably not, but experienced folks do. Pre-spawn fishing is generally acceptable, but fishing for fish on redds? Wouldn’t that do most damage to populations? Stressing big mama fish when she’s already weakened? What about tarpon after an hour on the line for our pleasure getting eaten by a hammerhead because it’s too weak to get away and still hooked to a boat? Lotsa other similar-type examples but you get the idea. Moving on, one of the benefits of the photo, is that the newbie gets turned on to the sport, protecting the fish by returning, not keeping it, and can learn to appreciate and be gentler on the fish as he/she learns. Would it be ideal if every fish were “long-line released”? Of course. Maybe we should just fish with no hook on a fly? That would be the purist form of our sport. I have heard talk of a “break-away” hook, too, so how about only 7x tippet and a “7x” hook? Often in salt when enough fish in the boat for the freezer, I remove the hooks/trebles and just have folks cast and watch the process, feel the takes, see all the fish. It’s a blast. Sorry for the long post. No right answers, no schooling, just info. If we all work to protect the resource as best we can and use as much common sense as possible, we can pass this on to our grandkids.
again sorry. And that was supposed to be a 15lb native steelie!
looks like a fun day! very theraputic
Great photos. Your blog and instagram are a pleasure to read.
Jen that looks like a great trip and quite the experience – the fact that you visited my coast and yet the largest fish you have caught on fly is a brown trout is a bit of a hit to my pride, but I’m hoping to remedy that as soon as y’all get back down here to visit!
Austin, We’d love to get down there — someday it will happen!!