Hero to Zero... All Within 24 Hours

[AaronJasper]

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.

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 >

[alanb_ct]

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!

[Walter1023]

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.

[AaronJasper]

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.

[SlowNDeep]

Heron, that is a truly amazing specimen. It has been an incredible year for you for sure!

[AaronJasper]

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!

[Magnet]

You are the Trout Predator, without a doubt!

[Adam]

great fish...did you head where we were talking about?

[Walter1023]

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.

[AaronJasper]

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.