Surprise Surprise!Huge Smallie while Trouting

[FishinFool247]

Well I got out of work around 1:30 yesterday and I headed over to the South Branch to get a little trout fishing in before the heavy rain and winds came. There was only one other fisherman at the spot when I got there which I was pumped about. I started off with powerbait and I was getting a good amount of hits, but I was having trouble hooking them because it was so windy that the line was being pulled and skewed. I eventually caught landed a few after figuring out what I had to do to get a hook set. Then it started raining and the wind picked up even more. This is when most people would have probably just left the river, which is exactly what the one other fisherman did that was there. I decided to stick it out because I knew there was plenty of fish there.

So I made my way up under a bridge to get out of the rain a bit, and I changed over to a rapala countdown. I couldn't feel anything bait fishing with the amount of wind there was, so I figured the countdown would be a better bet. I took a couple casts downstream where I was getting hits on the powerbait and had no action. So I started trying to work different areas of the river from where I was standing. All of the sudden I get whacked, so I immediately set the hook and the fish starts giving me the business. At first I figured it was a big old trout, and then it went airborne and tried shaking the hooks which gave away all the unknowns.

Now I knew it is a big smallie and that it wasn't going to be easy to get him in on the ultralight spooled with 4lb test that I was using. So I immediately loosened the drag so the beast of a fish didn't break me off. It truly was a great fight, he went airborne on me several times and was doing the famous head shake that they love to do. Every time it came out of the water I was worried that he was going to spit the hooks on me. I tried keeping my cool as best I could and let him do his thing for a bit, which wasn't easy for me at all. I knew I had to tire him out a bit before I tried landing him, considering the equipment I was working with. Eventually I landed the pig and I was finally relieved once I thumbed him and started getting him ready for a selfie.
I didn't have a tape with me but I did have a lab marker in my pocket from work, so I marked my pole for a measurement before releasing him.

So I kept fishing for a while after that and I ended up with 12 trout and 1 smallie. I only caught a few on the countdown and most of them were on powerbait. The wind eventually calmed down a bit which allowed me to switch back to bait fishing.

I was very pleased that such a shitty day turned into one of the best days I have had on the water this season.

I can't figure out/ remember how to add pics to this post. It keeps on saying file too large. If you want to see pics you can find them on my Instagram my IG is also FISHINFOOL247

Keep Um Wet and Tight!