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.



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



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







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



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





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.

[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