I was fishing on the Deerfield last night just before dark and was a little disappointed the "The Blitz" was not taking place. I had been fishing streamers for the last hour with little success. Two fish of note were a Rainbow about 12 or 13 inches with no obvious indication of ever seeing a hatchery, or another fishhook for that matter, and a nice Brown about 15 inches that looked lik it had been put in last spring, definately had been rubbed at the bottonm of the tail and had damage to the pecs at one point in its life, although it was nicely colored up now and appeared to be eating very well.
On with my story. As darkness descended upon the river I contemplated tying on a White Wulff despite the lack of a hatch, but decided against it. I stayed with the streamer approach and put on my new "old favorite" ?? streamer. On my second cast I hit the big one. Two or three strips and there it was. Immediately, I started thinking of the pictures I was going to post and how jealous Aaron was going to be because he didn't come up to fish with me.
The fish bolted downstream as soon as I hooked it, it was obvious it was a very big, very heavy fish. I let the line slide through my fingers as it took off. Then it happened, the line jumped a little bit as I was trying to keep the right pressure and wrapped around the rod, and of course, one loop wrapped around the stripping guide, all this as the fish is still bolting downstream. I still had enough line in my hand to let it slide through the knot, slowing the fish down some. As I ran out of line, I expected to lose it, but I the fish was still on. I tried to get the fish closer, as it was pulling hard against the rod so I get some slack and slip the loop over the stripping guide and get this monster on the reel. Next thing I know the line goes slack, the fish got off. As I strip in my line, wondering exactly how big the fish was, I get to the end and see that my streamer is gone. This fish busted my 0X tippet - and not at the knot.
Somewhere on the Deerfield river, there is a big fish with a ?? streamer and about 2 1/2 feet of 0X tippet hanging out of it. I wonder if the tippet is longer than the fish
I just sat there for five minutes - staring at the spot I hooked it in - wondering about what might have been.
Rich - Maybe you can PM me with the tying instructions. I guess I'm gonna have to get some of that material. I finally ordered the hooks last week and UPS says they'll be here Monday.