Did I win Valley Creek yesterday?

[Nymph-wristed]

Streamer chunking in 80 CFS. I beat my Valley personal best by over an inch, and this one did not look 100 years old in fish years like the 18 incher I landed a few years ago. Should have jinxed myself: went out looking for a good fish with a 5/6 weight, 10 lb fluoro tippet, and even the friggin' measure net... Cocky! In the end, it meant a quick, efficient battle and hopefully an apex predator still harassing mice and parr today. Three pics of same fish. More on my blog.

 

[ryansheehan]

Sick fish on any stream!!

 

[Nymph-wristed]

ryansheehan wrote:
Sick fish on any stream!!

Much appreciated!

 

[timmyt]

Dude, way to go, holy moly

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

Not trying to discredit or be the bearer of bad news. The measure net I had wasn’t even close to correct measurements. The inches were almost an inch and a half between them. So the measurements were wrong. I knew sumn was up when I saw a fish that wasn’t close
To 16 inches measuring 16

 

[Nymph-wristed]

IdratherbePhishing wrote:
Not trying to discredit or be the bearer of bad news. The measure net I had wasn’t even close to correct measurements. The inches were almost an inch and a half between them. So the measurements were wrong. I knew sumn was up when I saw a fish that wasn’t close
To 16 inches measuring 16

Not my first big fish. I just bring that net out for fun sometimes, and I prefer it to laying them on the grass and taping! This net is actually conservative, like I am in my estimations most of the time because too many YouTubers hold up 15 inchers and say they are 18. If I shared that first shot and said 21, many would believe me, yeah?

 

[Nymph-wristed]

timmyt wrote:
Dude, way to go, holy moly

Thank you, timmyt!

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Good God man...I haven't seen a fish like that in Valley in forever. Awesome job! Were you using a Barr's Meat Whistle?

 

[sarce]

Wow, way to go!

If you had told me that fish was 20" I wouldn't have questioned it.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Thanks, guys!

Wild_Trouter, that is a custom tie of my buddy's, a tungsten jig with a lot of movement. He was the first to get texted a pic!

 

[shakey]

nice fish!! those big valley browns fight hard!!

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Love it! Thanks for posting.

 

[BradyS]

Woww. I fish Valley several times a month and have not caught anything close to that. I have stumbled upon a dead brown well over 20" post spawn a couple years back but man are they rare there! Congrats

 

[govtmule]

Great job!

 

[Tigereye]

Sweet. Nice fish in anyone's book.

 

[redietz]

sarce wrote:
Wow, way to go!

If you had told me that fish was 20" I wouldn't have questioned it.

I agree. That's clearly a large fish.

 

[AnW]

That's a beaut!

 

[wildtrout2]

Awesome wild brown! That's one of the biggest I've seen caught on Valley. Congrats

 

[Dave_W]

Very nice indeed - just a magnificent fish.

Yuh gotta love throwing streamers in high water.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Thanks, all!