Monday, February 27, 2012

Nemesis



I had a nemesis for the past three years. A "big" wild brown trout from a trickle of a stream. By a large fish, I am referring to the fact that this is the hog johnson of the stream and his size is relevant to the body of water. By nemesis, I have hooked him several times and lost him twice at my feet. He has a habit of throwing barbless hooks and reminding me of the usefulness of a net. Each time I succeeded in getting him to eat a fly, it came during high water events, when I could sneak up onto his lair without spooking him in the gin clear pool. If there wasn't high water, I simply knew I didn't stand a chance. He was always too smart and super skittish spooking at the slightest disturbance or false cast.

So it was, that my father had the morning off. We headed out to a predetermined destination that simply hadn't produced after last spring. It didn't produce again. Left with an hour of time, I took my father to my little haunt anticipating high flows but receiving only a trickle. With the two of us stumbling upstream, many a trout spooked. I skipped over almost all of the water, fishing only the larger holes. Upstream, in the glory hole I spotted a small brown on the bottom of a bed of slate. He moved over four feet to eat a stonefly imitation.

Having already caught a fish out of the hole, I had no hope or thought of catching my nemesis. Unbeknownst to me, he was hanging out at the head of the pool in a small pocket of fast water that you can jump across. I was shocked with the difference in weight at the end of my line when I set the hook. I instantaneously knew who it was and was ecstatic. It was another great moment on the water with my father that I am sure we'll always remember.

















5 comments:

Dub The Thorax said...

beautiful photos

Mark Kautz said...

You can't have too many of those father/son moments.

Mark

gfen said...

4" handle on the ass of the fl-300-8 is one way to tight the heavy tip, i guess. that threw me for a loop.

gfen said...

4" handle on the ass of the fl-300-8 is one way to tight the heavy tip, i guess. that threw me for a loop.

Mark said...

Gfen, Adam added a little something extra besides the 4 inch handle to get rid of the heavy swing weight....he'll get the how to up sometime