Nuclear Summer


It's not a hole that I fish all that often, usually just this time of year due to water levels. Like most of the Eagle, this is a tough place to sight fish. Clients are trusting me when I say there are fish there but that all changed about 2 weeks ago.
For 2 peeps it makes the most sense to put someone on the other side of the river. After getting one person set on the close side I walked another to the other side, considerably down stream of the best water. As I approached where I wanted my boy to stand my eye caught something very bright. At first I swore it was a belly up Brown, probably hooked to someones 50 lb mono. When I got closer I saw it move. It was a real sunny day (as they all have been this fall) and this fish almost glowed. Have the Browns begun to swim upside down? Is this some new spawning trick to stand out? I was obviously VERY interested in touching this fish. It never descended more than 2 feet or so from the surface even though the depth of this particular pool is 4 times that. My white whale was clearly feeding, dancing confidently between my 2 fishermen for the next 3 hours. We hooked other fish, good fish, but not my little neon trout. This went on for 3 client trips. I was now offically offering sight fishing trips. We could never hook her, but she was always there.
After yesterdays guide trip to the mythical fishes lair I made a promise to one of my fishermen, I would come back myself and figure it out. I don't fish by myself very often, the camaraderie is a huge part of it for me but this morning I was on a mission. It was not hard to spot her in the massive pool and I'm sorry for everyone who tried with me but it wasnt hard to hook her either. It's all about the drift after all. It ends up she is a Golden Trout, how she got there I couldn't tell you. Bottom line is she shouldn't be taking up space in this water. Odds are she was put there and the way she glows it's only a matter of time before she is Raptor chow. I've heard many a story of Pike being in the Eagle. That makes sense as there is a pond near Dotsero just teeming with them, they get out or thrown over the bank to plenty of fine food in the Eagle. I've caught Brookies where i should not have, Mackinaws and Cuttys too. A golden trout is another story. It's life won't be long where she is, especially when she likes to hover in the film the way she does so i put her back. Maybe a few more peeps can have a bit of fun with her yet this year.
Sure, there is a slim chance this fish made some epic journey from her fluorescent home but I doubt it. Stocking exotic species in a trout stream the caliber of the Eagle pisses me off. I'm sure she is 10 miles from where some ass thought she would stay and become his own back yard legend. Sure it provided me with a few days of fun, but species that don't belong bring disease and problems that can affect a watershed in very negative ways. Should I have killed her like i would have if she was a pike? Probably, but for now she is free. Cutthroat have reputations for being very good eaters, stockers for being dumb. It took 3 casts to catch this little wonder so I guess I could always go back tomorrow and take care of business if my peers are bummed with my actions. It wont be hard to spot her.

1 comment:

  1. Bob,

    You should have taken that out and beat its head so some coyote could feast. Probably not good to keep it in the water though it made an interesting bobber talk

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