big girl

[acabtp]

went out this morning to toss lures for trout, got out early but a bunch of other guys had got out earlier. luckily everyone skipped right past where i wanted to fish so i quickly slid in and got to work. first cast - belly flash, second cast - bump, third cast - FISH ON!!

she gave my 4# fluoro and drag a real good workout for several tense minutes as i tried to keep her out of the main current and finally eased her towards the net... which she maybe about half fit in. but by that time she was pretty tired so i was able to corral her in to the shallow at the edge and called my buddy over for a couple pics and to mark her length off on my rod to get a measurement.



more than 26" probably closer to 26 1/2" easily tops my previous personal best rainbow (from VT) by about 5".

she took a while to revive after the long fight plus already stressed being a spent hen, but i stuck with it until she was ready to swim off and then watched her for another half hour after that to make sure she was successfully released.



she's out there waiting for you! for the most part the rest of the stocker rainbows this year have been real nice too, mostly 11-12" is what i've been catching with a few smaller ones mixed in. i do miss the brookies and browns, but good work with these rainbows NJDFW!