Quick Smokies Trip

[JohnH0802]

I decided after looking at the weather reports that I would make a last minute trip up this weekend to do a little fishing. Brought my fishing partner Larry, and my daughter Jessica.

We fishing the Straight Fork on Saturday and had a decent day. I caught one of the biggest trout I have caught in the park, a 13" rainbow. Great looking fish that still had a hook in his jaw.

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3200031.jpg

Larry caught a great brown a short time later, just over 13 inches, also with a hook jaw.

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3200034.jpg

We caught several other decent browns and rainbows. We decided to release 7 to grease...

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3200035.jpg

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3200038.jpg

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3200036.jpg

I ended up almost catching a park slam.....I had the rainbow and the brown, but the brook was about 2 inches too little!

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3200037.jpg

On Sunday we got up and decided to fish the trophy section. We caught a few fish, and I caught one bruiser rainbow.

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3210045.jpg

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af34/JohnH0802/John%20Jessie%20and%20Larry%20Mar%202010%20Straigh t%20Fork/P3210043.jpg

I cannot tell you how good it was to finally get into the mountains. We had a great trip.

[Carlito]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[ifish4wildtrout]

Looks like a great day and some nice wild trout.

Did you see any bears?

[Speck Lover]

Good deal John, it looks and sounds like you guys had a stellar day.

[buzzmcmanus]

Looks like you had a great weekend. Thanks for posting.

[Waterborn]

Great fish... wild trout - a slam is a slam and in early spring no doubt, great stuff...

[Noonan]

Great weekend to be over there. Thanks for the report and good looking fish!

[No Hackle]

Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[flyred06]

Totally awesome. I am jealous of both the fish and a couple of the rods you have in those photos. Way to go man.:smile:

[Jim Casada]

Thanks for sharing and for the photos. I would point out that almost certainly one of the browns (the first one pictured which, if I read the post right, your friend caught) is not a wild fish. Compare the coloration and placement of the red spots on it and the brown shown later and you will readily notice a marked difference. Also, the fins are suggestive, but in my experience you can always tell a wild trout. I don't know what changes the placement and nature of the red spots, but it happens.
As for the first brown pictured, I suspect it is a trout stocked in Reservation waters which made its way upstream.
Beyond that, a slam is a slam, whether the speck was four inches or a foot. Congratulations, and what particularly pleases me is having the young lady involved. Nothing quite matches passing it on.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com (http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com)

[JohnH0802]

Jim,
The first Brown could have come from the Reservation, I am not sure. I will say that it had a very hooked jaw and the kind of teeth that you rarely find on a hatchery fish....and it tasted like a wild trout :) By the way, looking at my post I forgot to mention that most of the action was on nymph's...bhpt and prince. By far the greatest concentration of insects in the stomach of all of the fish were cased caddis. My daughter loves to fly fish, and she is also a real sport (i.e. is willing to fish all day). Thanks for all of the comments.

John

[Jim Casada]

John--I'm quite confident it was a hatchery-raised fish (again, compare the coloration and placement of red spots) but it probably had been in Straight Fork a good while. The jaw is suggestive in that regard and the taste even more so. In the latter regard, I would note that hatchery-raised fish of today taste much better than was once the case. I suppose changed food is the explanation.
As for eating the catch, you've got me a bit envious and considerably peckish just thinking about a mess of fried trout. I'll rectify that in a couple of weeks.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com (http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com)