Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Took a trip with Alain to Westchester County. We fished a stream where a 14 pound brown trout, which was the old 4 pound IGFA World Record came from. The stream also has a pool named after a famous lure. We hooked some monster fish but only landed this one.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...Brownwc009.jpg
The fish was measured at 28" and Torrey estimates the weight at around ten pounds. Not bad at all for a trout within 30 miles of Manhattan.
Excited to get back there, I raced down Rt. 8 at about the speed of light! I got to the stream and hiked up to the "spot." All I caught today were two small browns of about 6 and 10 inches. No sign of the giants of yesterday >:(
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
What a trout! Look at the beautiful fins! Thanks for an afternoon I will never forget; the best big fish battle I have witnessed first hand. Glad I was there. Congratulations!
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Hey Aaron....I know the pool you speak of....as I passed by it Friday, Saturday and Sunday...and managed to spend some time on it each of the past 3 days and downstream for another mile. Its includes a lot of "quiet water" in that pool....on friday I had a fish break off my 7x #24 comparadun...and yesterday morning...right before a brief but heavy rainstorm...I got a 15" brown with a 22 sparkle dun. I was very excited as I never caught any fish with dries so small before...because I never really fish dries that small - but that is something i'm working on....and those sizes aren't really considered small for that tailwater....but the majority of the time I was streamer fishing...lost some nice ones...landed a few too including a 18" rainbow...that was my biggest. But that fish in your picture is tremendous....I've not seen one that big pulled out of there ever in my presence but I know of the IGA record you speak of. By the way...last weekend i nymphed downstream from that pool and landed about a dozen browns in the 5 to 7" range...am I wrong in thinking these fish must be wild ?? It really made me feel good to think that is possible.
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Walter,
When I went back today all I caught were 2 small browns. One of them was about 6 inches and the other around 10. Those big fish must come in and "get r done" and get the hell out of there. I could not believe the difference a day makes. Not catching them today makes me appreciate what happened yesterday even more.
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Heron, that is a truly amazing specimen. It has been an incredible year for you for sure!
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
I would say that fish is the icing on the cake for 2008. I think that my most fond memories this year are seeing my friends and clients catch more fish using so many new and different techiques. Also, watching the site grow has been another highlight of this past year. I am sure the site will continue to grow in 09. Maybe I will land a 20 pound steelhead before the end of the year... Who am I kidding!!! If I do that I will hang the gear up... not!
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
You are the Trout Predator, without a doubt!
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
great fish...did you head where we were talking about?
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Aaron:
Since my posting last night....I still can't get over that fish. I routionely read and sometimes post on NYC Trout bums..as do others who often fish that "stream".... but don't worry...I am not going to request the GPS coordinates of your hookup. I am curious though as to what you caught him on....including tippet size and ...and how long did it take you to land him ? Also What rod length/weight (the latter is more curiosity as I've seen people fish 2 weights to 9 foot 8 weights....the 8 was a guy that just came back from salmon fishing and said he was too lazy to change his tackle set up). I usually use a 8 foot 4 weight.
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
10 foot 4 weight
4X flouro leader
Glo-Bug
GPS: (28.796122, -51.040744) ;D
Like I said, lots of big ones one day, the next day gone.
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
That is one beautiful fish Aaron! Were you Euro nymphing or indicator?
I assume that a fish like that has run up out of a reservoir to spawn?
Steve
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Steve,
I was indicator fishing as that was the best technique for that situation. Yes that is a lake run fish for sure! I lost an even bigger one on my first cast!
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Wow! That is a beautiful brown. Great job on landing that bomber Aaron.
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
AJ, you were not kidding on the phone. That is a huge wild brown! Love the fact that all the fins are nearly perfect. However, the background light looks very dim - were you night fishing? Because that's cheating for big fish:)
I was going to give you the "that doesn't quite look 10lbs" speech, but I A/B'd it up to some of the measured 9 and 10lb plus browns we caught this season and it definitely compares. Since it didn't come from one of the Great lakes you get bonus points. I'm jealous. By the way, don't ever get a Boga-Grip or another accurate weighing device - it's embarrassing, humbling, and just down right unnecessary to see what the fish you've been catching for all those years actually weigh :P
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Haha funny! I remember steelhead fishing with Torrey about 6 years ago. We caught the same fish three days apart on the same stretch of river. My fish weighed 16 pounds and his weighed on the Boga right at 13 pounds. They were the same fish though >:( All I said was, "son of a -----!" I wasn't able tell anyone that the fish was over 15 pounds anymore! The scale damn near ruined my trip! I would guess that fish would have weighed between 9.5 and 10.5 pounds. She was hard as a rock and all the eggs were in there. I hooked one male that was over two feet and had some of the prettiest spawning colors that I have ever seen.
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
Aaron, congratulations, a fine fish know how that feels to nail your first 10lb fish.
As you well know l have seen may fish like this caught on the White river, and given what l can see from the picture l would bet that fish was between 10 and 12.
Now you got to come to the White to get one.
Davy.
Re: Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours
WOW, YIKES, and YOWZAS! That is one big brown Aaron! This is definitely one for the "Best of 2008" book!
What a beautiful fish, and I would never have thought it was a lake/reservoir fish. The shape, complexion and contour are all perfect. Usually lake fish are disproportionally shaped (ie: shorter, but big lumpy girth, exaggerated fins, etc).
Let's see, 26.5 on the WBD, now 28 inches, by your generated expectation, I'd say that the next one will be 29.5 inches. :o :o :o
I hope we get a 20 pounder next week.
