Huge trout caught Upper D River

[krayfish2]

I recognize the dog in the pic and have talked to that guy before.

 

[LetortAngler]

I am friends with Nick and can vouch. He also had multiple witnesses there. Catch of a lifetime, especially taking a fish of this size on a #20 Blue Winged Olive.

CLS - Yes, 5x tippet was used.

 

[moon1284]

That is pretty cool. I knew something was up with the boat net, it just seemed out of place.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

It is not unusual at all for tailwater trout to get that big when they have plenty of high-calorie bait like alewives and young troots to eat. Catching them on a size 20 dry, however, is extremely rare.

 

[krayfish2]

Well, it appears that some of the story may not have been told.

Spoke to a guide that was in the immediate area where the giant was caught. The accounting of the story I received goes like this....

The young man WAS fishing a #20 olive. He had hooked a 6"-7" brown.... which was promptly eaten by the beast in the photo. The leader wrapped around the beasts gill plate which is why it was landed.

That makes more sense than it taking a #20 olive.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

More believable, but less fun. Still, the guy was using lighter tippet than if he was fishing a big articulated streamer. While a beast on a #20 fly is impressive, trout eats fly then gets eaten by bigger trout is pretty cool, too.


The 2 truly large trout (well over 2 feet long) I've heard of coming from the Delaware ate smaller fish:

1. 32", 15 lb. (I think) hook jawed brown caught some time around the late 90s near Deposit on a white Zonker (alewife fly). Photo used to be on display at Rainbow Outfitters near the 191 bridge. I can see that photo when I close my eyes. What a beast!

2. The "Food Chain Brown" from the OP.

These are the 2 very rare, very large browns I am aware of.

 

[afishinado]

krayfish2 wrote:
Well, it appears that some of the story may not have been told.

Spoke to a guide that was in the immediate area where the giant was caught. The accounting of the story I received goes like this....

The young man WAS fishing a #20 olive. He had hooked a 6"-7" brown.... which was promptly eaten by the beast in the photo. The leader wrapped around the beasts gill plate which is why it was landed.

That makes more sense than it taking a #20 olive.

^ I heard the same thing from a very reliable source.

Still a nice fish for sure, but it demonstrates that you almost always need something like a "muppet baby" fly (a K-fish term) to interest a true trophy trout.

I will say I caught a 24" brown in the Yellowstone River in less than a foot of water on the dry fly (stimmie). That was the largest trout I've ever caught on a dry.

Thanks for the info.

 

[krayfish2]

Mike,

I remember that photo of the fish by the register at Wild Rainbow Shop. I remember it being just over 34" and caught right below the bridge. There's also the lake escaped that was caught TWICE on caddis pupa during the shad fly. That fish was closer to the dream catcher. I also know of 28", 27" on the main and another 27"+ up closer to deposit (all during early season on top). 25 years ago, over by shinhople, Al had a picture by the register of a 13 pounder that a kid caught on a worm opening day. That also looked like a lake fish that had escaped pepacton.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

There was a Charter Captain on Lake Ontario that used to catch some big browns then take them to stream and "stock" them. He got a kick out of watching the paper for huge fish caught in the creek. GG

 

[dryflyguy]

krayfish2 wrote:
Well, it appears that some of the story may not have been told.

Spoke to a guide that was in the immediate area where the giant was caught. The accounting of the story I received goes like this....

The young man WAS fishing a #20 olive. He had hooked a 6"-7" brown.... which was promptly eaten by the beast in the photo. The leader wrapped around the beasts gill plate which is why it was landed.

That makes more sense than it taking a #20 olive.

Interesting.

Does this mean that - technically - this fish was foul hooked?

 

[wildtrout2]

From reading the latest details, that trout wasn't "technically" hooked at all. If nothing else, it's a smudge on a neat story.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Lassoed! I say that's a higher level of difficulty. Kudos to the lucky angler! int:

 

[Swattie87]

Ironically, the photo turned out to be legit, but it’s fair to say the story was “shopped”.

 

[rrt]

Aw, the guy landed the fish, so that's pretty good.

I caught an 18" brown a couple of years ago that knocked a smaller trout off the fly I had hooked him on, and the 18" trout then became hooked. I figured I "counted coup" on him, since I landed him and then released him.

Anyhow, the big Delaware trout that the guy c/r is quite an accomplishment.

 

[dryflyguy]

I'm not trying to diminish what the guy did.
He caught and released a trophy size fish.

It's just that the claim of it taking a #20 BWO - really the unusual part of the story here - is apparently false.

I know that I - and I think just about all of the other forum members here - would have said exactly what happened:

Big trout took a small trout - that took a #20 BWO.

Still a really neat story!

 

[rrt]

i agree with DFG -- still a really neat story.

 

[DaveS]

This is not the first time someone wouldn’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.