Last cast syndrome..

I'd been looking forward to today all week as i had planned to fish a big river for trout and knew from fishing these spots the last few years that there was a good chance of a big trout. I was looking forward to it because the river levels were so low and I'd not fished these spots in decent conditions before so expected to do well.

I wanted to fish streamers on the fly rod but took an ultralight rod too to cover all bases. I met up with a fishing buddy, Paul. We fished the known spots with not a sign of any fish at all, things were very slow. Eventually Paul had abit of interest when a fish swiped at his lure a couple of times. It wasn't until we moved up river that i had my first encounter, I was on the lures now because of the high bank behind me and no room for casting the fly rod. I was retrieving a crank through some faster water when i saw a decent trout come charging in and it took the lure, a brief tussle in the fast water then it jumped and as doing so it spat the hooks! I wondered if my momentum was going to end today and after fishing on for another hour or so it was looking that way.

Paul had to leave soon so i thought I'd pop up river to a spot I'd tried before and had a few trout from. Again nothing at all was showing, it was if the fish had not distributed themselves throughout the river yet, probably lying low in deeper water. i did give a few deep spots a go but again nothing showing. It was nearly time to set off home when i saw a few splashy rises in the distance, I thought I had a shot if i knew there was fish there so headed off to that area to give it a go. I reached the rising fish and soon realised that the fish were going to be off a decent size as the rises were being made by something of a decent size. I cast over the rising area and retrieved the lure back through the area, as soon as it past through the rod hooped round and the reel was screaming away. I knew it was a good trout and this one had more room to run than some of the trout id been catching recently on smaller rivers. trout really are powerful fish not only in speed but they have quite good stamina too, care just needs to be taken when returning them because they fight so hard. After a few heart stopping moments when i thought the hooks had pulled i got the fish in the net. It was a stocky fish and had been feeding well. A quick snap and I was putting it back and reviving it to make sure it was ok before releasing it. I thought I might get another as there was obviously a few there but they must have spooked while playing the other fish.

 

A few hours after I wrote this post, i got a text from Paul to say he had been back this evening and had the fish below! Much better looking than mine! Thought i'd add it to my post.