The Alpha Trout

There are fish. Then, there are fish that you remember. I think I’ll remember the above holdover ‘bow for quite a while.

I decided to try a new freestone. Spent a lot of time walking along the bank and getting a feel for it. Tried Spot A and was blanked. Kept hiking. Tried Spot B. And, was blanked again. Kept hiking

Fortunately, the water was 50 °F, the sun was out, and stoneflies were popping everywhere. I knew there had to be some active fish. Found Spot C. It yielded four good-sized trout. Now, that’s more like it. Then, found Spot D, and it was a gusher. Five hook-ups and three went to the net.

One fish was absolutely ferocious. Once hooked, it went deep and just bulled its way here and there, putting quite a bend on the 3-wt. I tried to net it a few times, and it would go bonkers every time I got near it.

Finally, I was able to slide it into the net, but it kept going crazy. Frisky, dark, with a nice kype. 16″ of muscle. This holdover rainbow was at the head of a very long run, the spot where alpha trout hang out and get first dibs on food.

A very powerful fish that didn’t need any resuscitating. Here’s a video.

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