Bad day of fishing that turned out my PB Monster Brown

[bassfighter]

Date: Dec 6, 2013

Number of fish landed – Got skunk in the morning. Then three Female brown after 3pm. I Monster Brown by me and two from my other buddy. Fish were all Release.

Number of anglers fishing in our area: 15, most of them bottom bouncing with roe.

Technique used: Spinning reel . Cast and retrieved with spoon, and jig on Plastic minnow.

Number of lures we lost- We lost 8 spoon and jig that day. Ouch!

Total Hours fishing- 8.5 hrs. From 6:30-11, then from 1:30-5:30pm

Temp-: -1 degree. It was 12 degrees warm the day before, a cold front came in.

Wind direction- W 15km wind. Cloudy day the whole time.

Water clarity – 3 foot visibility .

Story:

Fish from 6:30- 9am . Our regular spot did not produce, so we hiked, moved and fish at 2 other spot , I witness couple of fish landed by two center-pinner, but for us………. no takers again, we fished an area where the water depth measured at least 25 foot deep, it was hard to manoeuvre our spoon lure due to moving current. We tried fishing almost vertical jigging, then quit by 11am. We decided to head to another town, to take a break and to re-group. By this time, we must have lost at least 6 spoon. Water at the river was faster and higher then what we had experience prior week.

On our way to the parking lot, I spoke to another angler, he said he just finished fishing an area, witness many anglers landed at least a fish. I would also assume many fish would have migrated northbound, since it rained a day before. By this time, we have decided to quit fishing the river, avoided too much hiking. Took a lunch break.

By the time we fished again at 1:30pm, there were at least 10 guys, we witness at least 5 fish landed by anglers bottom-bouncing with roe, most fish landed were brown except for one rainbow. My buddy landed a small female brown weighing at around 1.5lber. He was using spoon. While I was still skunk at the spot that I normally produce.

By 3:30pm, I asked one of the experience locals why no one fish that section of the water, he said current was way calmer , but commented that using lures should produce . We decided to switch spot and fish the calmer section that others rejected. I switch from Spoon to 3/8 Jig on plastic minnow , bottom bouncing hoping not to get snag. After few cast……..FISH ON! Fish did not even surface or hardly fought for most of the fight, just felt like a dead weight. After many years of landing all kinds of trout, it was the first time I felt the difference in heaviness fighting for this fish. I had to patiently and slowly drag the fish close to the shore line with the 6lb mono line on my reel, I asked my buddy, who was holding the net, “Could it be a big carp on a winter months? ………a big Pike?” When the fish finally surface …………….It was the biggest Female trout I have ever seen landed as of yet. I did a rough estimate using my hand on the size , Girth was around 30inches, while length will be around 30”. Anyone have a clue how much it could weigh? I would say more than 10lb for sure, the fish looks more like a big fat carp.

Through all the excitement laughing, I tripped, fell and accidentally bent my reel handle. While trying to straighten/fix my reel handle, my buddy decided to switch to my 3/8 oz jig on plastic minnow. After few cast…………..FISH ON, another female brown of roughly 4lber .

I tried to bent the handle back using two pliers, but the handle still wobbled during the retrieve. By 5:15pm, after another 15 minutes of fishing. We were contented, and decided to call it a day. We were all glad to have redeemed ourselves. From initially having a bad morning of fishing, then through few important decision to change our lures and fishing location, we were able to land some decent size catches.

We did not get our numbers that day, but the Big monster female brown I had landed will always remind me that persistent, to trust our instinct, to make some decision making adjustment, can help during tough conditions.

Tweak plastic minnow I used by darkening it using permanent marker:

Edited December 8, 2013 by bassfighter

[davey buoy]

Nice fish!!!!

[Musky or Specks]

THAT'S A BIG FISH.CONGRATS. SOMETIMES THROWING SOMETHING DIFFERENT LIKE A JIG IS EXACTLY THE RIGHT APPROACH.

[Rod Caster]

Wow that's a pounder! I'd be happy with my day after that fish too!

[Steve]

beauty brown.

 

over 10lbs for sure.

 

i'm aware of a 20lbs brown that was caught in that same spot, which was caught while the angler was sitting his hard steel lure on the bottom chatting with a friend....browns are opportunistic feeds that will eat just about anything....

 

my favourite fish!

[Richie Razor]

Wow seems like the browns are on fire!!!

[BillM]

Wow seems like the browns are on fire!!!

 

Tis the season.. Anything that imitates an emerald shiner is the ticket. That brown is pushing double digits for sure.. 10-12lbs would be my guess.

[Rich]

Beauty!! Congrats!!

[Joeytier]

Awesome fish. Sometimes those big browns go on feeding frenzies and they'll only react to fast presentations like what you were using. Congrats