[Trout 2003]

This is my third attempt to write this post. HPA is a real pain lately. It's wearing out my patience.

All last week I was watching a specific stream. I store a lot of data, probably more then I could ever need, What is does is tell me exactly when to fish certain streams and what my expectations should be. The system doesn't always work but 22 years of info gathering can't hurt.

I started to get excited on Wed, even commentting to my wife that I couldn't wait for Saturday. Everything was coming together so nicely and there was no weather upcoming that was going to change it. My expectations were high. Saturday AM came and I was up and out the door in a blink. I was anxious to say the least and wanted to get there before it was time to fish to leave nothing to chance with other fisherman. As I drove over the first bridge I put'er in park and hopped out to look.....PEEEEEEERFECT!

Since it was still pretty dark I chose a meadow stretch to start in. This would allow me to start fishing a good 15 minutes earlier then being in the timber. On my first cast I had 2-3 wild browns give serious chase. That was a good start. On my next cast trout #1 came to hand.



Over the next 10 minutes in the meadow 7 more trout came to hand which comfirmed my suspicions. It was going to be a 'hold on to your hat' sorta morning.

I quickly left the meadow and entered a dense hemlock stand. It was pretty dark and the fishing was rough for the next 15 minutes. I was starting to be concerned but just stayed patient and pressed onward. As I left the hemlock stand and the water entered a more diverse forested area the stream caught fire immediately and the trout started coming to hand as quickly as I could release the last one.





The fishing was great but I tried to take some time to enjoy my surroundings as well.



This little guy appears to have found its 'niche' in the world...



And every time I came upon a spot like this



I was catching 3-5 of these from each one.



By 8:30 I released #100. By 10:30 #200 was set free. The handling of fish was happening often but the number of fish that I was hooking and losing blew it away. I probably lost 3-4 trout for every one I actually landed. I'm very strict with what I consider a trout caught as. If I dont lay my hands on the fish it wasn't caught. I probably lost 40-50 trout as I lifted them out of the water to release. I lost many many more during the retrieve and at my boots. I didn't keep count but I'd be willing to bet that I hooked 600+- trout today. The stream was very difficult to get a good solid no slack retrieve on so that was really hurting my strike/catch ratio. I was certainly making due though





The last hour of fishing was the toughest with many obsticles preventing a good tight lined retrieve I lost a very high % of the trout that I hooked. Over the final 2 hours I caught 66 more and by the time I reach my bike at 12:30 I handled and release 266 wild browns and native brookies. It was one of those outings where the pace of the fishing actually exceeded my already high expectations.

The great fishing for my season seems like it's on the clock right now. Stream are getting very low as they have been for a while and there is no end in sight. Hopefully I can keep finding decent places to fish but there is no promise of that so I just keep trying to enjoy each good outing. We'll see what this week hold....

 

[ratherbhuntin]

Very nice. It amazes me the amount of data and technicalities you guys focus on when deciding where to fish but your numbers prove it works. I just pick a stream and go and try to get a little farther in the average guy. And pray my wife will pick me up and take me back to the truck when I'm done. She has made me walk a time or two. Lol

 

[Trout Traveler]

Wow! What a day! I'm envious!

I can't imagine catching that many trout in a day. I'm sure I'll never will.

What was your biggest trout?

By the way, I totally agree that HPA has been a pain lately. It bombs out at least once when I try an initial post.

I've found that I have to write the post first and add the pictures later.

 

[bjb2799]

That is one impressive outing! 100 trout in 2 hours is no joke. Congrats!

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Between 8:30 and 10:30 you averaged 50 trout per hour. That's pretty decent fishing!

Nice pretty stream. Nice stream photos.

I had my last photo essay bomb-out and had to do the whole thing over. I hope you as a moderator have mentioned this to someone at HPA.

 

[Trout 2003]

Rare....very rare that that happens. I hesitate to even post up numbers like that cause they sound like bull poo even to me...... it also helps that I dont record items on a note pad like some others do. I can catch and release 3 small trout in a minute without blinking. Maybe ever 4 or 5 to be honest. I'd be curious about how much time others spend writting stuff down when the fishing is as good as it can get. On a day like this how much time would be spent writing down 266 trout. My simple math would say 15 seconds per trip * 266 = 1 hour and 6 minutes writing. That's a lot of extra fish on an 'every cast' great day. It's part of the enjoyment for them so I think it's great that they do that though. Number are only relavent to the style of fishing each one of us do. They mean nothing else in the scheme of things. Numbers can be manipulated in all sorts of ways based on speed, size of fish, ease of wading, writing and taking pictures, when someone considers a 'trout caught'.

 

[Trout 2003]

Between 8:30 and 10:30 you averaged 50 trout per hour. That's pretty decent fishing!

Nice pretty stream. Nice stream photos.

I had my last photo essay bomb-out and had to do the whole thing over. I hope you as a moderator have mentioned this to someone at HPA.

It's discussed a LOT right now with no answer in sight. It's a BIG problem and the site will eventually start to lose quality content over it. I've been here for well over a decade and have been highly involved almost the whole time and even I am starting to second guess posting photo reports here. It's getting to be too much of a hassle.

My recommendation is to write your report without pics and post it. Then come back in and edit it by dropping the pics into the edit. That way if it crashes at least the hard part is there already. Last night I placed a 'pic' where I wanted a picture and came back in . An extra step but much better then losing all that work.

 

[Fleroo]

Shouldn't you be sleeping right now ? Or at least massaging your liver or something, getting ready for 8:00 PM, or 8: 15... or what seems like 8:25 nowadays ?

 

[troutdoorsman]

That's an absolute whoopin you put on those trout. That 4th picture is my favorite.