
After getting a couple follows and landing about a 12" fish I switched to an in-line spinner as I fished through a faster section of creek. I went biteless and didn't see a fish for about 15 minutes, so I decided to switch to "old faithful" this time of the year. I tied on a 2 3/4" Rapala husky jerk in the silver with black back color. On my first cast I landed a chunky 14" brown trout and 2 casts later I hooked into this solid trout.

Shortly after I landed my best trout of the day - a hair under 17". Unfortunately, he slipped my grasp while trying to get my camera/phone out of my waders. I kept fishing and found 2 really consistent holding patterns for the trout and was landing solid 12"-15" fish regularly. The best part was that I could see most of the strikes, including one fish that I saw come out from under a rock, crush the bait, and head straight for the air.
I landed a bunch of beautiful brown trout and lost count somewhere past 15. I lost what looked to be a 17"+ rainbow, but thankfully a few casts later I landed this gorgeous brownie.

Finally, I decided to call it a day fishing the trophy trout section. I caught somewhere around 20 trout, had probably another 15 follows, and spotted another 15+ smaller trout. After that great day, I decided to head to a different stretch of stream in search of dinner. After about 5 minutes at one of my favorite winter holes I landed a chunky 14" rainbow, threw him on a stringer, and hit the road. Sauteed in butter and garlic, he made for a tasty Christmas dinner! Tight lines!
What a great way to spend Christmas Day when the family is away. Very nice looking Brown Trout. Guess I will have to spend a little more time fishing the Rapala Husky Jerk's. Are the fish in this stream that active during the cold of winter on a usual basis?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Most native brown trout spawn sometime in December-February around here, so they do get pretty active. Most of these fish are pre-spawn, but a couple were starting to look like spawners and the brook trout I caught looked like he was spawning or darn close. I love trout fishing in the dead of winter because the stream is never crowded. Tight lines!
ReplyDeleteNice, at least someones catching trout. I haven't been fishing since Nov.
ReplyDeleteMust have been delicious
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