I'd be interested, but it's a little longer than a 40 mile trip for me. ION, the Firehole is a great place to fish, but I was casting in 30+ mph winds all afternoon. Never saw a rise, & like you the biggest fish on of the day we never saw. wasn't as big as yours, but I had to work to bring it up stream on my 7wt. Most of the trout we caught were smaller browns.
> I don't normally give a fishing report after a 'mundane' outing, but last > night was different. I was left with a question and a challenge rather > than a photo of a nice fish. We drove out to the lake for our anniversary > dinner at the marina, and had time to wet a line before heading back. > > So we went to my favorite spot at the mouth of the canyon. I usually fish > a big bunny-fly or crawfish pattern, but I thought I'd give one of my > australian possum rope-worms a try. It's about 4" long on a size 8 wet > hook, and the whole body is an extended furled rope-dub of chopped/dubbed > possum with 3/4" inch at the tail being fl. orange. It had a large red > metal bead-head and a small collar of wet hackles. It was roped on 2# > mono so it was pretty limber, and oh yeah, it had a tiny 00 gold colorado > blade at the tail end (no split-ring on this one- just locked into the > loop at the end of the furl), and no hook at the end, just the main hook > at the front. It looked real tasty as I retrieved it in the fairly-clear > water. > > I usually just catch one trout in the 4 to 6lb. range, and then no more. > It's a steep drop-off, and I lose a lot of flies in the rocks as I try to > bounce the fly off the bottom coming uphill on the retreive, especially > with a wet sinking line. Last night I fished the heavy-headed fly on a > dry line and let it sink slow just over the edge. > > The technique worked as just beyong the drop-off, only 15' out or so, but > deep, I got a take. It felt like it normally does, just a snag-up, but > then with a definite pull-pack. Then I felt the weight. I was fishing a > 5-wt., so I had a good feel of the fish, but it wasn't fighting like the > big trout I caught so many times before here. It didn't panic at all or > take off, but it had the strength and weight to do just that. It just > slowly swam off, taking the slack and most of the fly-line out, and it > stayed real deep. It felt more like a big catfish or even a stingray > rather than a trout, but this lake has neither of those. There's trout > and wall-eye and the rare burbot and some carp. > > I had Cheryl come grab the net off my vest and get ready to land it, but > that wasn't going to happen any time soon. I had it on for about 3 or 4 > minutes as it very slowly worked it's way out to deeper water. I had no > control as it just slowly took line off a tight drag. If I tried to palm > the reel, the tip would just drop. I had the definite feeling if this > fish did a panic run, it would spool me. > > Then it ended, just as the backing started to show. Line went slack and > no fish on it. I could feel the fly as I reeled it in, so the hook must > have just slipped out. It came back with green moss on it, so the fish > was on the bottom when the hook pulled. > > So why write about a lost fish? Because I have no idea what I had, and > I've caught countless trout at this location, both in a boat and from the > shore. It drops off straight down to 130' deep, the original river > canyon, so anything could be cruising the cliff looking for crawfish in > the rocks. > > Was it a walleye? Didn't strike like one or fight like one. Was it a > rainbow, like 95% of the fish I take there? Maybe, but it didn't fight > anything like a rainbow and it never panicked. Was it a big brown? Most > likely, as they will stay deep and bury their nose in the bottom. But it > never struggled like a trout does. It just very slowly made its way out > to deep water, like a big catfish would, and very much like a stingray > would (I have caught them on flies). > > So now I have a quest, to find out what that was. It's 40 miles to that > spot, so it's not a cheap drive with a pick-up truck and high gas prices. > But I need to find out what that was. If it was a big trout, I don't even > want to guess what it weighed, as I've never had anything that heavy on > the line in fresh water, including the pike I've caught. I did catch a > 20lb. carp that was close, and this lake has some big carp, so maybe? > > I lost the fly in the rocks on a subsequent cast, and never had another > take, which is the usual for this spot, which tells me it was the > territorial trout for that piece of shoreline. > > I have a dozen more of those worms, so I'm on a mission now to find out > what that was. I'm planning to take the canoe next time so I can fight > him from the deep side rather than the shore, and I can work more than the > one spot of shoreline. > > So, in this case, losing the fish makes it more intriguing than catching > the fish. Game and Fish says there are some giant trout on the bottom in > the center of the lake, in the 30lb Kamloops class, but they never take > lures or bait, but G&F has shocked them up. There are also 30# carp, but > I've never seen one that big in this lake. > > So with the rivers all swollen from run-off, this gives me something to > shoot for. Anyone want to go with me on the next outing? > > DonO > > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" > group. > > To post to this group, send email to vfb-mail@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > vfb-mail-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/vfb-mail?hl=en > > VFB Mail is sponsored by Line's End Inc at http://www.linesend.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VFB Mail" group. 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