The one that got away...

I spent last evening listening to the book "Unbroken" on CD that my wife picked up for me at the local public library.  There are only two things that I can do while listening to a book being read to me...driving is one, fly tying is another...and luckily I wasn't on the road.   I took a break from bonefish flies and settled in on some sz 18 and 16 midge larvae.

The deal was this...I got to bolt for the creek at 2:00 pm with no curfew.  I pulled up to my favorite spring creek at approx 2:30, tied on one of the fresh 18's and started working the run.  Nothing.  Nothing.  Nothing. Nothing.  It went on like that for awhile.

And then, something.

I set, it pulled and then it ran, downstream right past my feet.  It looked like a damn steelhead.  I saw instantly that I was hooked onto a 20+" broad stock bow.  I got the fish on the reel as it bolted downstream...headshake.
Still on.
Another head shake.
Still on.
And then it did one of those goofy hang down corkscrew moves.  Despite being extra ginger with the 6x, or, perhaps because of it...I was dealt a pile of slack and a hook full of nothing.

A few years back I hooked and landed a pair of these fat freaks in the same hole and despite being zoo animals, it still fires some prehistoric hunter/gatherer based synapse to hold a fish this large from a creek this small...here's a pic of what was, and what wasn't.

Circa 2005

Now, I rank broad stock bows just slightly above pellet fed tank fish.  And"above" if only because they are no longer surrounded by concrete and they have to start eating wild natural food stuffs.  But, I was irked.  20+ inches is still 20+ inches and I wanted to tilt it in the sun and get a big doughy dripping photo of it.

As of this writing I suspect it's still wallowing in the pool right below the pool where I hooked it...maybe it's wondering when the next batch of pellets is gonna drop, or maybe it's being just a tad more selective about what is and isn't a midge larvae.

I finally made it home at 8:15 this evening.  For my nearly 6 hours on the creek, I landed exactly one brown trout.  It might be that the 80 degree March weather has weirded out the fish as much as it has me.   Or, it might be that a freak hatchery fish beat me and knocked me off my game...I'll never tell.