NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey - Big Trout and the Polar Bear Plunge (3/24/18)

For a change of pace, I decided to go trout fishing on Saturday morning. I decided to explore a new stretch of a river in PA that I'd only hit once before.

I arrived early and was pleasantly suprised to see I had the river to myself. I scouted the stretch and found a nice pool almost immediately. The first cast produced a strike from a good sized fish. Unfortunately, as I got the fish within net range, the hook popped out. Not a great start. A walked down another 30 yards and made a few casts to give that pool a few minutes to settle. I walked back to the pool and had a fish swipe at the lure on my next cast. I threw again, and my lure got crushed by an even bigger fish than the one I lost.

The rainbow went nuts, and immediate ran through a large branch. I followed the fish right through, fully dunking my arm in the process. The fish pulled a 180 and shot downstream. I began to chase the fish, but I soon realized the rocks were quite slippery. Then, it happened. I slipped and fell right on my face in about a foot and a half of water. I was totally soaked from head to toe, and my waders were now home to several gallons of icy water. My sunglasses also took a swim. I struggled to get up. But, thankfully, the fish was still on. After another run or two, I slipped the big rainbow into my net. Didn't measure her, but she was definitely in the 22 to 24 inch range. After a few pics, she swam away strong.

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I had only been fishing about 15 minutes and I definitely did not want to go home when I had a few hours left of fishing time. I dug through my car and managed to find a pair of khakis, a shirt and a couple of socks...finally my laziness paid off!

Though I was still cold and my waders were wet, I continued on. Not long after, I pulled the hook on another nice fish and landed a beautiful rainbow that was around 17 to 18 inches.

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But I still hadn't found what I was after...a nice brown. Against my better judgement, I decided to move downstream and continue fishing until I got one, despite being cold and feeling pretty crappy. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

I walked a section of river without seeing much before I came up to a beautiful pool. I worked through the area with a lure and had one fish chase and swipe at the lure. Clearly interested in eating, but not going to commit on that particular lure. I tried a couple of different presentations before I found what they wanted. One pass with this lure and a quick swipe, the next cast he crushed it. And it was a nice, fat brown.

I chased him around the pool. I couldnt lose this fish. In my warped mind, catching this fish meant I could leave and go home to dry clothes haha. After a stubborn fight, I had him at my feet...then he disappeared. I was dumbfounded for a second before I realized he swam inside a hollow log at my feet. After a tense few seconds, I coaxed him out and netted the beautiful brown.

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When, I released the fish, I looked down at my chest pack and realized I forgot to zipper it and I dropped an entire box of lures into the stream. A search proved fruitless.

After that, I decided to call it a day. Minus a pair of sunglasses, a box with $60.00 worth of lures, plus my waders were damaged and heavily leaking, leaving me soaking wet. But all worth it for some quality trout!