Trout Slam (Brown, Brook, Rainbow) and a Monster: 4/29/17

[JDTuna]

I have been having a lot of fun chasing stream-dwelling critters, so I decided to continue and chase trout again on Saturday. I was going to hit a spot by myself in the morning, and meet up with my friend and head to another spot in the late morning.

It wasn't long before I caught and released an stockie rainbow. With the skunk off, I decided to focus on wild browns. A little while later, I caught and released a little brown. I continued on to a productive stretch, and got slammed on the first cast. The fish peeled drag and ran straight into a pile of wood. Luckily, the fish didn't get stuck and I slipped the net under a beautiful, 14" NJ wild brown trout.



I fished for a little bit longer and caught and released a couple more stockies before it was time to head back and meet my friend to go to the next river.



Met up with my friend and we headed out to the next spot, which was in PA. I had never fished this particular river, so I was pretty excited. The fishing started out a little slow, and I had only 2 smallmouth bass for the first half an hour or so. It took a little while to figure out where they were sitting, but when I did I was having small brown trout consistently blasting my lure. Most either missed the lure or the hook, but I did get one small fish to the net. Since, we weren't planning on fishing long, we took a walk to fish one last section of the river before we left.



The spot was textbook trout water. I got hit almost immediately, but it turned out to be a huge sunfish. I continued to work my way through and I saw a dark shape slam my lure twice before finally getting hooked. It ended up being a beautiful brook trout.



We still had a little bit more time, so I kept working my way through the spot. A few casts later, I saw a flash right by my lure, and the ultralight bent over. Took a second for the fish to realize it was hooked, then it powered through the run, peeling drag as it swam all over. It never jumped, but stayed deep in the current. As i was chasing it, I stumbled over a rock and took a good amount of water into my waders. Finally, I saw the fish...and it was a really good one. After a few more back and forths, I slipped the net under a beast of a wild brown.



After a few pics, he was released to get even bigger. Made a few more casts and another bump before we called it a day. A very successful trout outing with a slam and a monster brown.